‘Irish-America and the propaganda tours of Irish revolutionary women, 1916-23’

    Joe McGarrity greeting Countess Markievicz in Philadelphia, April 1922
    Thursday, March 7, 2019 - 18:00
    Seminar Room, First Floor, Iontas Building, MU North Campus

    Speaker: Dr Ann Marie O'Brien

    Synopsis
    This paper focuses on the US propaganda tours of revolutionary Irish women, particularly, Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, Mary MacSwiney and Countess Markievicz, between 1916 and 1923. The paper examines the purpose of the tours and measures their success in terms of numbers of speeches, public gatherings and what they achieved. This paper will argue that the tours brought the Easter Rising, the War of Independence and the subsequent Irish Civil War into sharp focus in the minds of Irish-Americans and laid bare the political challenges facing Ireland in the period 1916-23.

    ALL ARE WELCOME