Dr. Rosa Tapia will discuss the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and the Spanish Civil War at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 12, at the Wauaca Area Public Library.
Free and open to the public, the program is hosted by the Winchester Academy and sponsored by Vance and Ann Buerger Linden. It will be preceded by refreshments and conversation at 6 p.m.
In the 1930s, General Francisco Franco led a military uprising against a young Spanish Republic. Seeing this conflict as the first skirmish in an international fight against fascism, people from around the world volunteered to defend the Spanish Republic. America sent 2,800 volunteers to Spain, including many from Wisconsin. They formed the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.
Tapia will examine the role of Wisconsin’s volunteers and the relationship of the Spanish Civil War to World War II.
An assistant professor of Spanish at Lawrence University since 2002, Tapia was the 2004-05 winner of the Young Teacher Award.
Tabia is a native of Ubeda, Spain. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English at the Universidad de Granada, a master’s degree in Spanish at the University of Delaware, and a doctorate in Spanish at Penn State.