Social Studies teacher, Mr. David Hanna shares that his Spanish Civil War elective class took a field trip before the spring break. They started their trip by visiting the Federico Garcia Lorca mural at Canal & Lafayette. They read a poem by Garcia Lorca there, "Sleepless Nights (Brooklyn Bridge Nocturne)" which he wrote when living in New York in 1929. They then visited Cooper Union and learned about the famous speeches given there by Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and by Clara Lemlich in 1909, and the significance of Cooper Union as a public space and its role in leftist politics in the city.
Students are researching volunteers who served in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War. The Brigade archives are housed in Bobst Library at NYU. Archivists worked directly with students explaining how to most effectively utilize the archives, and uncover documents related to their research. They are practicing history in the truest sense. We finished the day by having lunch beside current NYU students at Weinstein Dining Hall. Parents Christopher Wong, Emilio Gomez-Villalva, and Lora Tchekoratova, and Stuyvesant alumni Thea Williams '20, served as chaperones.
