PROCLAIMING THE AMERICAN STORY

LEADING HISTORIANS REVEAL THE AMERICAN STORY BEHIND IRELAND’S .

“NO PEOPLE EVER BELIEVED MORE DEEPLY IN THE CAUSE OF IRISH FREEDOM THAN THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES.” President John F. Kennedy, Leinster House , June 1963 NEW BOOKS AND n April 24, 1916, carry- to be told and remembered. Historians EXHIBITIONS EXPLORE ing a new tricolor flag, shape the public imagination and order a small group of Irish the public memory of events long past. AMERICA’S ROLE IN revolutionaries rallied Such a revolution in remembering is hap- THE 1916 RISING, around their Proclama- pening today, as historians are retelling tion for independence. the story of Ireland’s Easter Rising of 1916 REPORTS The seven radicals who during this the centennial year. TURLOUGH MCCONNELL signed the Proclama- During the century since the Rising, tion were a vivid group of idealists whose historians have reassessed the central Ocollective dream of a free nation was the cast, creating an historical consensus on latest manifestation of an ancient yearn- the American affiliations these players ing. Though all seven, and seven more, shared. Until recently, the story of the Eas- were executed by firing squad within ter Rising has been told as a Dublin City days of surrender, their action was the pageant, with Clarke, Pearse, Connolly,

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Photographs by Kit Defever, first step toward the birth of sovereignty. MacDiarmada, McDonough, Plunkett and except where indicated This ancient civilization would become a Ceannt as its heroes, carrying banners and Designed by Andrew Patapis Design nation once again. marching to their executions. Today, that Edited by Judith Rodgers History emerges from the active mem- picturesque tale has yielded to a narrative Produced by Turlough McConnell ories of those who become its storytell- whose complexity is energized by an Communications ers. According to Nobel laureate Daniel emphasis on their American connections. Kahneman, we create our future by crafting In this new, layered telling of the the narrative of how we wish to be remem- story, the revolutionary activity of the bered. This record is a conscious effort to signatories was nurtured by their connec- become heroes in a good, even inspiring tions to the Irish-American community. story. Professional historians are perhaps Five of the seven were either citizens of A Special Supplement in the ultimate storytellers, charged with the the U.S., lived in America, had family in partnership with responsibility for instructing current and the States or, in Éamon de Valera’s case, Irish America Magazine future societies on which stories deserve was born in New York. American support for Irish indepen- dence was problematic for the British, who sought a commitment from President in the erupting war with Germany. One of the leaders, Sir , captured on Good Friday before the Rising, was executed several months later for his part in the rebellion. The swift decision by the British gov- ernment to execute the now-famous leaders of the Rising served not to remove the threat to the Empire but rather made martyrs of them. With blood on their 1. hands, the British executioners in due

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time were denounced for their atrocities of the country’s communications. From 1. The original “Irish Colors” of the 69th New York Volunteers carried in the American in the world’s media led by The New York the moment it happened, the story of the Civil War. Times. Journalist/poet Joyce Kilmer cov- the rebellion was told and retold. 2. Christopher Cahill, Executive Director, ered the story intensely, contributing to In his book The Insurrection in Dublin with (left) Georgette Keane, and Sophie Colgan, prepare 1916 exhibition at the the Times general coverage of the First (featured in a new exhibition in Dublin’s American Irish Historical Society. World War that won the paper its first National Gallery of Art), the author James 3. Peter Quinn, novelist, Banished Children of Eve and Terry Golway, author, Irish Pulitzer Prize. Stephens reports his day-by-day account Rebel: John Devoy. Photographed at the The story of the Rising has evolved, and personal experiences of Easter week. New York Public Library. 4. Maureen Murphy, Professor at Hofstra both as it happened and as it is remem- The book, one of the first books about University and Chair of 2016 Greater bered. The seven key revolutionaries, 1916, has since become a seminal chron- New York Centennial Program. 5. Robert Schmuhl, Professor of five of whom were published poets and icle of the Rising. Pages from the original Journalism at Notre Dame. Author, playwrights, knew the importance of the manuscript, on view in New York’s Mor- Ireland’s Exiled Children. narrative and housed their headquarters gan Library, highlight real-time reporting in Dublin’s General Post Office, the center of the events. ca’s Fight for Ireland’s Freedom, has been revised and reissued by Merrion Press. The importance of Devoy must not be under- estimated, says Golway, who depicts him as a skilled tactician with unwavering ded- ication to Irish independence. Exiled from Ireland in the mid-1800s, Devoy made New York his base of operations. These included organizing a dramatic rescue of prisoners from Australia, rally- ing Irish America behind the , serving as middleman between Sir Roger Casement and the German government, 6. and driving Irish-American opinion. When

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“ ALL THE WHILE, HE Through the years many writers have he died in 1928, Devoy was accorded a told the story, including the doomed state funeral and hero’s burial in Ireland (JOHN DEVOY) ASKED leaders themselves, who left behind under a tricolor flag. OF AMERICA ONLY notes and letters. Many of these are on Golway, a journalist and historian, WHAT AMERICA view in a brilliant online exhibition from explores the legacy of the Famine, which the National Library of Ireland. Now, in inflamed the ancestral drive for Irish DEMANDED OF ITSELF: the year of the centennial, the remem- independence in Ireland and America, GENUINE DEMOCRACY bering has intensified. Six new books where key players seized opportuni- AND AUTHENTIC by contemporary historians highlight ties to advance their cause. At seizing the American connection and enhance opportunities, Devoy was unparalleled, REPUBLICANISM.” the remembered history of the Rising by staging a public relations coup with the TERRY GOLWAY, acknowledging the role of America. funeral of Fenian rebel Terence Bellow Terry Golway’s acclaimed 1999 biog- McManus in 1861. New York Archbishop IRISH REBEL, JOHN DEVOY raphy, Irish Rebel: John Devoy and Ameri- John J. Hughes officiated at the funeral Mass and in an impassioned eulogy that language as a strategy to achieve their aims. echoed in Ireland, Hughes said, “there The uniqueness of Schmuhl’s account are cases in which it is lawful to resist and derives from his examination of the report- overthrow a tyrannical government.” age of the Rising; he looks at the ways Devoy used the McManus funeral as journalists sought to drive public opinion the precedent for another explosive pub- and muster support for their cause through lic funeral, that of Jeremiah O’Donovan their words, both spoken and published. Rossa, whose remains were returned to Professor Schmuhl is Walter H. Annen- Ireland for a pageant burial in 1915 – an berg-Edmund P. Joyce Chair in American event widely considered the trigger for Studies and Journalism at Notre Dame, and the 1916 Rising. Recently a review in the director of the John W. Gallivan Program in Irish Times stated, “It should shock… the Journalism, Ethics and Democracy. conscience of this nation that practically Schmuhl highlights the tension for no one in Ireland can identify the man those who rose for Irish independence in

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Photograph by Xanthe Elbrick Photograph by Barry Wong

[Devoy] who had a public life dedicated to a Europe poised for war. Irish republicans 6. Package from Lady Gregory to . John Quinn papers. Courtesy Ireland spanning over 60 years and whom had long looked west for help, for good of Manuscripts and Archives Division. the Times of … called “the most reason: the Irish-American population New York Public Library. 7. Christine Kinealy, Professor of History, dangerous enemy of [the British Empire] was larger than the population of Ireland, and Director of Ireland’s Great Hunger since Wolfe Tone.” with familial ties on both sides. Irish exiles Institute, reviews 1916 exhibition In Ireland’s Exiled Children: America in America provided financial support plans with John L. Lahey, President, Quinnipiac University. and the Easter Rising (Oxford University and the inspiration of example: that life 8. Geoffrey Cobb, author, Greenpoint: Press) Robert Schmuhl reveals the com- independent of England was achievable. Brooklyn’s Forgotten Past. 9. Lucy McDiarmid, Professor of plexities of American politics, Irish-Amer- Ireland’s “exiled children in America” Montclair State University, author, At icanism, and Anglo-American relations were acknowledged in the Proclamation Home in the Revolution. 10. Timothy Egan, Pulitzer-Prize-winning during and after WWI. His book focuses announcing “the Provisional Government reporter, New York Times columnist on four key players – John Devoy, Joyce of the .” April 24, 1916, was and author, The Immortal Irishman. 11. Charles Cushing, grandson of Captain Kilmer, President Woodrow Wilson, and a poignant moment, for despite American Robert Monteith, photographed at the Éamon deValera – who used powerful support for the rebels, the U.S. was mov- New York Yacht Club. “ WOMEN CAME IN THROUGH ing closer to joining the Allies in the war consequence. We witness the delightful against Germany. For many Irish-Amer- vignette of Catherine Byrne, who “jumped THE WINDOWS, ENTERING icans, loyalty to American war policy or into the General Post Office of Dublin” on THE PUBLIC SQUARE, Britain’s granting of Home Rule was a 24 April 1916. Women came in through DECLARING THEMSELVES choice against their deepest desires. the windows, entering the public square, The Easter Rising occurred at a moment declaring themselves ready for rebellion. READY FOR REBELLION.” of social redefinition for women in both McDiarmid, Marie-Frazee-Baldassarre Ireland and America. In her lively and Professor of English at Montclair State provocative book, At Home in The Revolu- University, follows a cast of characters - tion: What Women Said and Did in 1916 some whose spirit of independence was (Royal Irish Academy), Lucy McDiarmid energetic and heartfelt and others who reimagines that moment when women were not. In his review for Irish Amer- were finding themselves amid rebellion. ica magazine, Adam Farley writes “As a At Home in the Revolution begins from study of women in 1916, the book is both

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the premise that women were involved. situated within and outside of the dis- Prior to the Rising, women had orga- course of feminism… at once a political nized themselves by forming groups such study of shifting gender relations as well as Cumann na mBan, dedicated to the as a thoroughly researched, vivid, emo- Republican cause. But the Rising was a tional, and often comic look at forgotten viral sequence of events, and McDiar- stories of the Rising that will entertain as mid captures the atmosphere of spon- much as it will enlighten.” taneous unity that characterized a time Thomas Francis Meagher, the dashing when “women’s civic position was in the Irish orator who became a hero on three process of altering.” The women – and continents, roars to life in The Immortal the men with whom they rose – made it Irishman: The Irish Revolutionary Who up as they went along. We learn of the Became an American Hero (HMH). As “small behaviors” of women such as Bos- told by Pulitzer-Prize-winning New York ton-born Molly Childers that led to major Times columnist Timothy Egan, Meagher’s story dazzles. The story is the stuff of fic- tion: as a young man in Ireland, Meagher was arrested after a fiery speech during the Great Hunger and sent to Tasmania. After his eventual escape, he made his way to America, where he assumed lead- ership of his brethren, whom he inspired with impassioned rhetoric to join the Union cause in the fight against slavery. After the Civil War he moved to Montana with his wife, where, as Acting Governor appointed by his friend Abraham Lincoln, he died in mysterious circumstances. Egan calls him the “immortal Irishman” 12.

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because his words endure. Exhorting the U.S. citizen, told in historian Geoffrey 12. Manuscript pages of The Insurrection in Dublin by , courtesy of Irish, and Irish America, to remember, Cobb’s Greenpoint: Brooklyn’s Forgotten Morgan Library & Museum. Meagher insists on drawing strength from Past (NBNH), affirms this statement. At 13. Marion Casey and Miriam Nyhan coordinate 1916 program of activities Ireland’s broken past. “That burden of age 25, Clarke, a recent immigrant to the at Glucksman Ireland House, New York memory is our history, and we will not U.S., was sent to London on a dynamiting University. forget… the famine, we’ll not forget the mission that was hatched in a Greenpoint 14. J.J. Lee is Director of Glucksman Ireland House, Glucksman Professor of centuries of oppression. And Meagher, dentist’s office. Clarke and his comrades Irish Studies, and professor of history at even at his most joyous, would say that were betrayed and arrested. After serving New York University. 15. Claire Curtin, Board member of The there’s a skeleton at this feast. That skele- fifteen years, Clarke moved back to New New York Irish History Roundtable. ton is that burden of memory.” York to work for Devoy. He returned to 16. John Ridge, President of the New York Irish History Roundtable, author, United It has been said that great historians Ireland in 1907, and was the first signatory Irish Counties Association recognize the past as “shaped by vices of the 1916 Proclamation. He is consid- and 1916. 17. Declan Kiely, curator of the Morgan Library and virtues of flesh-and-blood people.” ered the father of the Rising. & Museum, with Barbara Jones, Consul The tale of Thomas Clarke, a naturalized Such intense attention on the Rising General of Ireland New York. might not have continued long after the of American democracy. Schmuhl reminds events of Easter Week without Sir Roger us that Thomas Clarke, a naturalized U.S. Casement, the focal point of world media citizen, occupies the first position on the interest. When he dedicated himself list of signatories of the 1916 Proclamation to Irish independence, Casement was and “a narrative of U.S. connections to the already well known, knighted for his Easter Rising comes full circle with several humanitarian work. From New York, with accounts identifying , the help of John Devoy, Casement sought another naturalized American citizen, as support from Germany, and in 1915 went the last person to leave Dublin’s General to Berlin to make an ill-fated arms deal; Post Office (GPO) when it was engulfed he was captured before he could call off with flames following nearly a week of the Rising. His capture came despite the fierce fighting.” presence of Captain Robert Monteith, sent Golway captures this spirit for all as to Berlin to see to his safe return; Monte- embodied by John Devoy. “By sheer

“ (THOMAS FRANCIS) MEAGHER, EVEN AT HIS MOST JOYOUS, WOULD 1916 RISING SAY THAT THERE’S A PROCLAIMING THE AMERICAN STORY SKELETON AT THIS FEAST. THAT SKELETON IS THAT A Photo Exhibition featuring America’s links to the 1916 Rising. BURDEN OF MEMORY.” Opens April, 2016 TIMOTHY EGAN, THE IMMORTAL IRISHMAN

Supported by the Consulate General of Ireland / New York Ard-Chonsalacht na hÉireann / Nua Eabhrac For more information contact: [email protected]

ith managed to escape. Charles Cushing, force of personality and determination, he the American grandson of Monteith, is [Devoy] had made Ireland’s cause a trans- working to have his grandfather’s mem- atlantic crusade, enlisting American sup- oir, Casement’s Last Adventure, reissued. port on behalf of a small and strategically Casement historian Angus Mitchell has insignificant island in the North Atlantic. compiled and edited One Bold Deed of All the while, he asked of America only Open Treason; The Berlin Diary of Roger what America demanded of itself: genuine Casement 1914-1916, which has just democracy and authentic republicanism. been published by Merrion Press. He never ceased to be disappointed. But These new books, like those that pre- he never surrendered.” ceded them, bring to life men and women These new books about the Rising who seized the moment to declare Irish offer an opportunity to revisit and renew independence. The players shared a goal interest in the meaning of those events for and a spirit that echoes the primary values Ireland and America. Ⅲ