PROCLAIMING THE AMERICAN STORY LEADING HISTORIANS REVEAL THE AMERICAN STORY BEHIND IRELAND’S EASTER RISING. “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 Dublin, 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, 2. 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 Woodrow Wilson in the erupting war with Germany. One of the leaders, Sir Roger Casement, 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 3. 4. 5. 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 Fenian prisoners from Australia, rally- ing Irish America behind the Land War, serving as middleman between Sir Roger Casement and the German government, 6. and driving Irish-American opinion. When 7. 8. 15. “ 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 9. 10. 11. 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. 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 London… 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 Irish Republic.” 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.