tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44207306619832107842024-03-18T20:27:42.134-04:00Irish Boston History & HeritageNews on Irish and American culture, hospitality and history in greater Boston. www.irishboston.orgirishboston.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318913501694126116noreply@blogger.comBlogger680125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420730661983210784.post-64523786750775526542024-03-18T17:11:00.002-04:002024-03-18T17:11:48.174-04:00Mary Boyle O'Reilly, Boston Irish Journalist, Social Activist and Child Labor Reformer<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyBVcX7Ldi5D9_25qeyDc3Z7tWCYb5DqatA4AfC6OFdDOet0oxTfW0MIFOAVvJdNK2diX_-gVRx0MLhPdJXDOMcbCc6Y1YSNoRcLAULaIie9Eo4JXmhEVvtuGH6fO2fwhyphenhyphenQminIYjlU0gJMNgfwRVD6Uf442o3VFWK-zJ7iD8uRqtQor1ZTfoX99gU3OJ6/s1200/Mary%20Boyle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyBVcX7Ldi5D9_25qeyDc3Z7tWCYb5DqatA4AfC6OFdDOet0oxTfW0MIFOAVvJdNK2diX_-gVRx0MLhPdJXDOMcbCc6Y1YSNoRcLAULaIie9Eo4JXmhEVvtuGH6fO2fwhyphenhyphenQminIYjlU0gJMNgfwRVD6Uf442o3VFWK-zJ7iD8uRqtQor1ZTfoX99gU3OJ6/w640-h334/Mary%20Boyle.png" width="640" /></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Journalist, social activist and Boston native Mary Boyle O'Reilly was the eldest of four sisters born in Charlestown to Irish patriot and poet John Boyle O'Reilly and his wife, writer Agnes Smiley Murphy.<br /><br />Mary was born died on May 18, 1873, and died in her home in Newton on October 21, 1939 at age 66.<div><br />Her passion for protecting children and young women was a hallmark of her life. In 1901 O’Reilly helped establish the Guild of St. Elizabeth, a Catholic settlement home for Children in Boston’s South End. From 1907-1911 she was Massachusetts Prison Commissioner. In 1910, she went undercover under an assumed name and uncovered the infamous baby farms that housed unwed mothers and their babies under inhumane conditions. She helped create a law to prevent abuses at these facilities. <div><br /></div><div>On the labor front, O'Reilly investigated conditions for women working in canneries and also wrote about the women garment strikers in New York in 1913. <br /><div><div><br />During World War I, she wrote syndicated dispatches from England, France and Russia for the Newspaper Enterprise Associates of America. Her stories appeared in Harper's Magazine, the Boston Pilot, the Boston Globe and other print media. </div><div><br /></div><div>According to the New York Times, "she entered Belgium disguised as a peasant at the beginning of the war, was in London for the Zeipplin raids, witnessed the burning of Louvain and was finally imprisoned by the Germans." When she returned to the United States in 1918, O'Reilly went on the lecture circuit to help raise war relief funds. </div><div><br /></div><div>Later in her life, she moved to Aburndale in Newton, Massachusetts and built a small stone cabin in memory of her father, <a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2023/08/john-boyle-oreilly-defender-of.html" target="_blank">John Boyle O'Reilly</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>She amassed a personal library of more than 1200 volumes, including what she described as a most complete collection of war propaganda books. A collection of her papers, including correspondence is at the <a href="https://archives.bpl.org/repositories/2/resources/24/collection_organization" target="_blank">Boston Public Library</a> and many of her journalist writings are at the <a href="https://findingaids.bc.edu/repositories/2/resources/193" target="_blank">John J. Burns Library</a> at Boston College. </div></div></div><div><br /></div><div>She is buried at <a href="https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/206172975/mary-boyle-o_reilly" target="_blank">Hollyhood Cemetery</a> in a plot with her parents and sisters. </div></div>irishboston.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318913501694126116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420730661983210784.post-64336387180750892402024-03-15T15:22:00.002-04:002024-03-15T15:43:34.465-04:00Northern Ireland Activist Bernadette Devlin McAliskey Receives State House Citation in Boston on March 14, 1986<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0xgb-uGvGulzpfqaxDjhh6KMRiEJgRD7_8tYYgggniMz9kgA-2pM_B1pccXYcdMb8tKlAqfmpwDVlAX2kpIsKMrR462KPpNL1tFiZS79OUHblCkeXfM6oA_t4NCkZIKKpOJop0rS1dIFoqp4u3pvDsS2IIMo_9C3_vcWY5-sfUp_xq2xljEqRuoBUXexN/s2346/M.%20Howe,%20B%20Devlin,%20Mel%20King%20B_W.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1626" data-original-width="2346" height="444" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0xgb-uGvGulzpfqaxDjhh6KMRiEJgRD7_8tYYgggniMz9kgA-2pM_B1pccXYcdMb8tKlAqfmpwDVlAX2kpIsKMrR462KPpNL1tFiZS79OUHblCkeXfM6oA_t4NCkZIKKpOJop0rS1dIFoqp4u3pvDsS2IIMo_9C3_vcWY5-sfUp_xq2xljEqRuoBUXexN/w640-h444/M.%20Howe,%20B%20Devlin,%20Mel%20King%20B_W.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>State Rep Marie Howe, Bernadette Devlin McAliskey and former State Rep Mel King, March 14, 1986</i></div><p></p>
A ‘rainbow coalition’ of Massachusetts elected officials came together on Friday, March 14, 1986, to support activist Bernadette Devlin McAliskey in her campaign to end British violence in Northern Ireland.<div><br /></div><div>McAliskey was greeted at the state house by “two Black officials, a native American, a Jewish senator, and various Americans of Irish descent,” including state representatives Marie Howe, Byron Rushing and Thomas Gallagher, senator Francis D. Doris and Jack Blackman, and former state rep Mel King, wrote the Lynn Daily Item. Other leaders including Leo Cooney of the Irish National Caucus and Boston civil rights attorney William Homans. </div><div><br /></div><div>McAliskey was presented with an official citation signed by Senate President William M. Bulger and Speaker of the House George Keverian. </div><div><br /></div><div>She blasted ‘misconceptions’ about the conflict in Northern Ireland, which were the result of British Government propaganda, such as the troubles being about religion. “The great weapon is truth. This is not propaganda. Everything I say can be documented,” .McAliskey said. </div><div><br /></div><div>Describing his trip to Northern Ireland, Mel King said, “What I saw reminded me of a time in the United States when blacks went through the same kinds of kangaroo courts and trials.” </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://irishmassachusetts.blogspot.com/2022/03/former-state-rep-marie-howe-original-co.html" target="_blank">Representative Marie Howe </a>(D-Somerville) was one of the Irish-American leaders at the State House during the 1980s, criticizing the British Government about ongoing human rights violations and the 1981 Hunger Strikes, during which 10 Irish political prisoners starved themselves to death. </div><div><br /></div><div>On June 15, 1981, Howe and others issued a House Resolution calling for the “Recall and Withdrawal of the British Consulate” from Boston. A copy of the Resolution was forwarded to President Ronald Reagan, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and others.
</div><div><br /></div><div>Learn more about Boston's Irish history by visiting <a href="http://rishHeritageTrail.com.">IrishHeritageTrail.com.</a></div>irishboston.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318913501694126116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420730661983210784.post-90406178202887467532024-03-13T09:00:00.002-04:002024-03-13T17:16:40.823-04:00Patrick Collins (1844-1906): From Famine Refugee to Boston Mayor<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6jMWj8js3DmHr2DeSH8YJVJPopGld3kaNtG9WCqPWHOtzwidzfjndV9yCy8QM21QwKX34DvDYUVPXKTdos5qSEgfT360YBnTn5d7bw38e_jED6583Ms3Q67X15z5bDiw1jhhDFP7b_1UEx5gEghxK2KYuxK1lSAQNIkOyOYLg_ruLEKuYqN8Pe50WgMf4/s3433/Patrick%20Collins,%20Echo.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3433" data-original-width="2604" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6jMWj8js3DmHr2DeSH8YJVJPopGld3kaNtG9WCqPWHOtzwidzfjndV9yCy8QM21QwKX34DvDYUVPXKTdos5qSEgfT360YBnTn5d7bw38e_jED6583Ms3Q67X15z5bDiw1jhhDFP7b_1UEx5gEghxK2KYuxK1lSAQNIkOyOYLg_ruLEKuYqN8Pe50WgMf4/w486-h640/Patrick%20Collins,%20Echo.jpg" width="486" /></a></div>The Irish Echo Newspaper in New York published author Michael Quinlin's story, Patrick Collins: From Famine Refugee to Boston Mayor, in its March 13, 2024 edition of the paper. <p></p><p>Read more <a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2018/09/bostons-patrick-collins-us-congressman.html" target="_blank">about Collins</a> and his illustrious life in Boston. His memorial is part of <a href="http://www.irishheritagetrail.com/" target="_blank">Boston's Irish Heritage Trail.</a> <br /></p>irishboston.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318913501694126116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420730661983210784.post-17399456133237101442024-03-12T14:50:00.005-04:002024-03-12T14:57:55.715-04:00Katharine O’Keeffe O’Mahoney (1852-1918): Irish Women of Massachusetts<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_DPW8sKXJJnrvBkuIEXZ4zg2oraLBVze-uRhxVcVCEXmDSjruMI4h1i4RoeFditGeVpQ7tKaFz97opJcCx-ioyi7Rfo2Thld0NknC7nHbuVBWb_0eOKmSp_lXPfsWVV7RcM9z2DV_t9OUAyJDcIU6G0vm7v84sTaOihAV-aG8qbavz9MP6gCqeS74Gwsk/s1200/Irish%20Women%20New%20England%20Redux-2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_DPW8sKXJJnrvBkuIEXZ4zg2oraLBVze-uRhxVcVCEXmDSjruMI4h1i4RoeFditGeVpQ7tKaFz97opJcCx-ioyi7Rfo2Thld0NknC7nHbuVBWb_0eOKmSp_lXPfsWVV7RcM9z2DV_t9OUAyJDcIU6G0vm7v84sTaOihAV-aG8qbavz9MP6gCqeS74Gwsk/w640-h334/Irish%20Women%20New%20England%20Redux-2.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">Katharine O’Keeffe O’Mahoney (1852-1918)</span> moved with her family from County Kilkenny in Ireland to Massachusetts when she was 10 years old, living in Methuen and then settling in Lawrence. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Educated at St.Mary's School, she became a teacher </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">at </span><a href="https://www.lawrence.k12.ma.us/" style="background: repeat; color: #25a186; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration: none;">Lawrence High School</a> from 1873-92,<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;"> where one of her students was the poet Robert Frost and his future wife Elinor White. Later Katharine made her living lecturing and writing books. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">The American Catholic Directory wrote that "</span><span style="background-color: transparent;">Mrs O Mahoney was one of the first Catholic women in New England if not in the country to speak in public from the platform, on topics including A Trip to Ireland, Religion and Patriotism in English and Irish History, An Evening with Milton and An Evening with Dante."<br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihL3fgoCtBZkOVxrVVQC3QNckAvIdcrZ5m_trSnRQ3osP7ryeQoZjLcQZLH7quztNMsNm4ijzGMOYJD6qSCKv-SzrQh1y7YjylZhQOdDpo-t1MyLCb5xNaawfkFI-KTVcxUg-fdLLDbUDwuQEI-tce4T_PajfD20bJ5uU7YxoOFTR-FSL7klGOxsXZyJuK/s1640/Famous%20Irishwomen.O'Mahoney.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1640" data-original-width="1196" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihL3fgoCtBZkOVxrVVQC3QNckAvIdcrZ5m_trSnRQ3osP7ryeQoZjLcQZLH7quztNMsNm4ijzGMOYJD6qSCKv-SzrQh1y7YjylZhQOdDpo-t1MyLCb5xNaawfkFI-KTVcxUg-fdLLDbUDwuQEI-tce4T_PajfD20bJ5uU7YxoOFTR-FSL7klGOxsXZyJuK/w466-h640/Famous%20Irishwomen.O'Mahoney.jpg" width="466" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">She published several books that were popular in her life, including <i>Catholicity in Lawrence</i> (1882), <i>Thomas Moore's Birthday, A Musical Allegory</i> (1893) and</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><i style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">Famous Irish Women</i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 12pt;"> (1907), a fascinating history of Irish women from Pagan Ireland to Ireland’s Literary Revival. She contributed to a number of Catholic publications including The Boston Pilot, Sacred Heart Review and Donohoe's Magazine. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 12pt;">O'Mahoney was president of the </span><a href="http://div8aoh.homestead.com/LAOH.html" style="background: repeat; color: #25a186; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration: none;">Ancient Order of Hibernians</a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 12pt;"> and St. Clare League of Catholic Women, a group that helped orphans. She was also prominent in the Women's Land League headed by her countrywoman Fanny Parnell.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihhHM1JOXMX_mnxZ0hG9QLi4EzlM_y4cAOisvce-kHRe-Guohx0d3BGJfTBjWBSxwZjN5VQOvqg35RQ06WZMDnFCj__z3Y12Cg9_xQX6S-LL0VYaYJepvHFD48p78rwSZMf45ger4jdNjcQZeWP6BH9syG_rCbIgltVEty0Zdv7mp92o6aGzdhgBVKikuy/s1640/Famous%20Irishwoman%20TOC.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1640" data-original-width="1066" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihhHM1JOXMX_mnxZ0hG9QLi4EzlM_y4cAOisvce-kHRe-Guohx0d3BGJfTBjWBSxwZjN5VQOvqg35RQ06WZMDnFCj__z3Y12Cg9_xQX6S-LL0VYaYJepvHFD48p78rwSZMf45ger4jdNjcQZeWP6BH9syG_rCbIgltVEty0Zdv7mp92o6aGzdhgBVKikuy/w416-h640/Famous%20Irishwoman%20TOC.jpg" width="416" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 12pt;">She died in 1918 and is buried at <a href="https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/137761912/katharine-a-o'mahoney" target="_blank">Immaculate Conception Cemetery</a> in Lawrence/Metheun. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span></div><div><br /></div>irishboston.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318913501694126116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420730661983210784.post-68690681635480618372024-03-10T10:00:00.008-04:002024-03-12T13:37:01.235-04:00The Guide to the New England Irish Published in Time for St. Patrick's Day, 1987<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQFoKGuKdXKt7Obe4hFEgIblUrL8u3TY2-75Dto878oBf9d_v8PgLFX602DMQGG5qAt9EUVfq6APXSboIsIMhH39-xTuWe0iRNElqSbajqZUoeOj6jqSiWSTpn9aCeK9u9qYQQV2Lbo2MC-fOvHt8VMsLg2JzqNfo1_i79WGzKU1AtwmB8_50m5HUKSlcE/s1640/1987%20Guide%20to%20NE%20Irish%20cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1640" data-original-width="1216" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQFoKGuKdXKt7Obe4hFEgIblUrL8u3TY2-75Dto878oBf9d_v8PgLFX602DMQGG5qAt9EUVfq6APXSboIsIMhH39-xTuWe0iRNElqSbajqZUoeOj6jqSiWSTpn9aCeK9u9qYQQV2Lbo2MC-fOvHt8VMsLg2JzqNfo1_i79WGzKU1AtwmB8_50m5HUKSlcE/w474-h640/1987%20Guide%20to%20NE%20Irish%20cover.jpg" width="474" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(45, 45, 45); color: #2d2d2d; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 16px;">On March 16, 1987, the Associated Press wrote the following review of the "Guide to the New England Irish," published by Quinlin Campbell Publishers of Boston.</span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(45, 45, 45); color: #2d2d2d; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 16px;">"While the Cabots and Lowells were speaking only to each other Boston's Irish were taking to the streets en masse to celebrate their heritage, according to a book that has hit the streets in time for St Patrick's Day. But “The Guide to the New England Irish" turns from the myth of the hard-drinking two-fisted Irishman and focuses on how the “Sons of Erin” worked to preserve their heritage in the six-state New England region. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(45, 45, 45); color: #2d2d2d; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 16px;">"The book, an expanded version of the 1985 “Guide to the Boston Irish,” includes essays by local writers who give a historical look at Irish life.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD-vWiXhGH7M07UbkX0yn-cSWWg4ZLMRj18jf_8uu9oEgSNEFaNs1o68SLKxKCfhTlLI27QWy3uErL1keLjKT0r1tmoVExksrbl7e1dgjLkFU3LCiHkv6Nzzw3Hn12v2JgWMeVY7aaVVzT6JQXNBwSuenm3deqVtO5bLo0Svi85xxF59KZKe_ylXYUwPpQ/s1640/Guide%20to%20NE%20Irish%201987.%20TOC.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1640" data-original-width="1120" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD-vWiXhGH7M07UbkX0yn-cSWWg4ZLMRj18jf_8uu9oEgSNEFaNs1o68SLKxKCfhTlLI27QWy3uErL1keLjKT0r1tmoVExksrbl7e1dgjLkFU3LCiHkv6Nzzw3Hn12v2JgWMeVY7aaVVzT6JQXNBwSuenm3deqVtO5bLo0Svi85xxF59KZKe_ylXYUwPpQ/w438-h640/Guide%20to%20NE%20Irish%201987.%20TOC.jpg" width="438" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(45, 45, 45); color: #2d2d2d; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 16px;"><p><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(45, 45, 45); color: #2d2d2d; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></p>"A 1986 address by Massachusetts Senate President William M BuIger to the Irish American Heritage Society takes up “Ireland's Gift to America." Bulger, a student of history who holds one of the most raucous political gatherings on St Patrick’s Day, said the gift of the Irish of mid-19th century America was their ability to withstand some of the harshest anti-ethnic activities of so-called nativists. “Had they bowed before this violence” Bulger said, “no other ethnic group would-have been safe in this country." </span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(45, 45, 45); color: #2d2d2d; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 16px;">"In a piece called ‘‘Ethnic Politics Comes to Boston," Professor Thomas H O’Connor of Boston College said Irish immigrants started from nothing to build a powerful political base that produced such leaders as John F “Honey Fitz” FitzGerald, “Smiling Jim" Donovan, Joe Corbett, Pat Kennedy and Joe O’Connell</span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(45, 45, 45); color: #2d2d2d; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 16px;">.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(45, 45, 45); color: #2d2d2d; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 16px;">"In exchange for their backing, these powerful ward bosses made sure their people were fed, housed and clothed. From this tradition emerged </span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(45, 45, 45); color: #2d2d2d; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 16px;">John Kennedy and James </span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(45, 45, 45); color: #2d2d2d; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 16px;">Michael Curley.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(45, 45, 45); color: #2d2d2d; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 16px;">"The effect of the "Irish wave” on the waterfront in Portland, Maine, is noted in</span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(45, 45, 45); color: #2d2d2d; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(45, 45, 45); color: #2d2d2d; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 16px;">"Portland’s Irish Longshoremen" </span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(45, 45, 45); color: #2d2d2d; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 16px;">by</span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(45, 45, 45); color: #2d2d2d; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 16px;"> Michael Connolly. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(45, 45, 45); color: #2d2d2d; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 16px;">"Musician Tom Garvey remembers the days of dance halls and revelry on Dudley Street in Boston's Roxbury section. He recalls hopping times at the Crystal Ballroom of Intercolonial Hall, the Dudley Street Opera House, Winslow Hall and Rose Croix Hall.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(45, 45, 45); color: #2d2d2d; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 16px;">"A profile section "From Famine to Fame” offers biographies of such noted Irishmen as Patrick S Gilmore, father of the American concert band and "the greatest band master of the 19th century;” Daniel Tobin, founder of the Teamsters Union, who came to the United States from Ireland in 1889 when he was 14; poet and patriot John Boyle O’Reilly, who was active in an attempt to oust England from Ireland in the 1860s and eventually escaped from an Australian penal colony and settled in Massachusetts. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(45, 45, 45); color: #2d2d2d; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 16px;">"Other sections of the guide offer listings on food, musicians, dancing classes, artists, Irish publications in New England, social clubs and the region’s Irish pubs."</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(45, 45, 45); color: #2d2d2d; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></p>irishboston.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318913501694126116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420730661983210784.post-18597932244256285362024-03-03T12:08:00.008-05:002024-03-12T16:24:49.912-04:00Charlestown's Mary Murphy O'Reilly (1851-1897), Gifted Children's Writer and Columnist<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyK7zlE_zNWP-0HPBR4zAVHrExNnvXzTMcDEo7owoKb_ANdTnX8yQJWnQm4aDmXCwyrXYo93Fn_aqqt6oY6R41uFtbtUP1A5wftF5fBtzh5MFrUD0yfs_xgBTMk6ulQf7QBMdNv7SzZ66-PH0MqYQ_bPMkLO5APaNUkmNzfJcqzp0hcBYZbrl88Bt9qVKO/s1200/Mary%20Murphy%20O'Reilly.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyK7zlE_zNWP-0HPBR4zAVHrExNnvXzTMcDEo7owoKb_ANdTnX8yQJWnQm4aDmXCwyrXYo93Fn_aqqt6oY6R41uFtbtUP1A5wftF5fBtzh5MFrUD0yfs_xgBTMk6ulQf7QBMdNv7SzZ66-PH0MqYQ_bPMkLO5APaNUkmNzfJcqzp0hcBYZbrl88Bt9qVKO/w640-h334/Mary%20Murphy%20O'Reilly.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Mary Murphy (1851-1897), the wife of famous writer Irish <a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2023/08/john-boyle-oreilly-defender-of.html" target="_blank">John Boyle O’Reilly</a>, was a gifted writer of children’s stories and a popular columnist in the late 19th century<br /><br /> Murphy was born in Charlestown in 1851 to John Murphy of Fermanagh and Jane Smiley of Donegal. She attended grammar school and high school in Charlestown. She began contributing children’s stories to the <i>Young Crusader</i>, a Catholic Magazine that published monthly from its offices on West Street, using the pen name Agnes Smiley, her grandmother’s maiden name.<br /><br />Murphy was also a contributor to <a href="https://www.thebostonpilot.com/index.html" target="_blank"><i>The Boston Pilot</i> </a>weekly newspaper when John Boyle O’Reilly arrived in Boston in 1870. At that time, O’Reilly was famous in Irish circles as the man who had made a daring escape from a British penal colony in Australia and found his way to America. He would become one of the most influential writers, orators and change makers in late 19th century Boston. He had read one of her stories in the <i>Young Crusader</i> and inquired about her. They met at the newspaper offices and “a mutual attachment sprang up which ripened into lasting affection," wrote a local paper.<br /><br /> The couple married on August 15, 1872, at St. Mary’s Church in Charlestown, and they settled into 34 Winthrop Street where they raised four daughters, Mary (Molly), Eliza Boyle, Agnes Smiley and Blanid.<br /><br />In the 1870s, the name Agnes Smiley became well known in Boston's Irish Catholic community because of her regular children’s column in <i>The Pilot</i> entitled 'Little Ants,' in which she wrote loving and inspirational stories for children that captured their imagination and gained a following for her. During the 1870s, she wrote more than 175 columns in <i>The Pilot</i>, which produced a sizable number of letters to the paper praising her efforts. <div><br /></div><div>One of them quoted a line from Smiley’s column, which read, “It is not the number of days we live, but the good and thorough way in which we spend those days that makes a long and noble life, and to live such a life we must aim at high thoughts and surround ourselves with good associates.” </div><div><br /></div><div>According to her obituary in <i>The Boston Globe</i>, Murphy “took an interest in everything and was consulted in everything by (O’Reilly). He often referred to her in a touching sentence in public."</div><div><br /></div><div>In the dedication to his book, <i>Legends, Ballads and Songs</i>, O’Reilly wrote that his wife’s “rare and loving judgment has been a standard I have tried to reach.” </div><div><br /></div><div>When Mary died on November 22, 2897 after a brief bout of pneumonia, her funeral was held at St. Mary's Church in Charlestown. She is buried at <a href="https://www.holyhood.com/about/historic-figures/" target="_blank">Holyhood Cemetery</a> in Brookline next to her husband. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>- Research + Text by Michael Quinlin</i></div><div><br /></div>irishboston.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318913501694126116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420730661983210784.post-15878463532876710552024-02-29T17:21:00.003-05:002024-03-12T16:28:05.678-04:00Boston's Catherine Crowley (1856-1920), Writer of Popular Children's Books and Historical Romance Novels
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_CqYc-O5woZJCqc4_puCvtZzxFH5McmFMOULwmrIt8UKf36BG6AZaReLYwWEd1e0GEgS3HLn89MwOn9GKlv_Q5llP5vhXQOamgSfFAeFdMrPUtBeLYg1b30zGo68VQrVSaMhRu80bwgtxY2TzSxvq4AB8Z-59N3BPpdIrA3kSnlVaEtSgK9vgOwDYhJxE/s1200/Catherine%20Crowley.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_CqYc-O5woZJCqc4_puCvtZzxFH5McmFMOULwmrIt8UKf36BG6AZaReLYwWEd1e0GEgS3HLn89MwOn9GKlv_Q5llP5vhXQOamgSfFAeFdMrPUtBeLYg1b30zGo68VQrVSaMhRu80bwgtxY2TzSxvq4AB8Z-59N3BPpdIrA3kSnlVaEtSgK9vgOwDYhJxE/w640-h334/Catherine%20Crowley.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Mary Catherine Crowley was part of a generation of post-Famine Boston Irish and Irish-American women who rose to prominence in the late 19th and early 20th century. She and numerous other young women writers were encouraged and first published in <i>The Boston Pilot</i> under editors <a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2023/08/john-boyle-oreilly-defender-of.html" target="_blank">John Boyle O’Reilly</a> and <a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2019/03/katharine-conway-journalist-editor.html" target="_blank">Katharine Conway</a>. <div><div><br /></div><div>Born in Boston on November 28, 1856, her father’s family were prominent in the Catholic history of Boston; her grandfather, Daniel Crowley, was one of the early Catholic settlers in East Boston, and her father defended the local Catholic Church against an attack by a Know Nothing mob in 1854. On her mother’s side, she was part of the famous Cameron family of Scotland, wrote James B. Cullen in <i>The Story of the Irish in Boston</i>. She attended the Notre Dame Academy, Roxbury and then the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Manhattanville. </div><div><br /></div><div>Early in her career, she used a pen name, Janet Grant, when submitting writing to<i> The Boston Globe.</i> </div><div><br /></div><div>Crowley first gained recognition as a writer of children’s stories, and published several volumes, including <i>Merry Hearts and True</i>, <i>Happy Go Lucky</i> and <i>Everyday Girl</i>. </div><div><br /></div><div> In 1889, <i>Ave Maria Magazine</i> wrote, “Miss Mary Catherine Crowley, of Boston, although one of the youngest of our Catholic authors, has already earned a high reputation as a poet and story-writer. It is a pleasure to announce that a collection of Crowley’s stories for young folks will soon be brought out by a New York publisher. Her contributions to the <i>Ave Maria </i>have been particularly admired. Her new book will include several of these (including) ‘Potato,’ and ‘The Blind Apple-Woman.’ They are among the brightest and best stories for boys and girls ever published by an American magazine.” </div><div><br /></div><div><i>The Boston Pilot</i> wrote, “The success of Mary Catherine Crowley in that department of literature where so few succeed —juvenile literature—is an especial pleasure to her Boston friends. She will always be counted in with that little group of Catholic literary workers” encouraged by Boyle O'Reilly.</div><div><br /></div><div>After moving with her family to Michigan, Crowley turned to adult fiction. She wrote a trilogy of romance novels about the founding of Detroit, which gained her a wide following and literary success. The novels delved into the founding of Detroit and involved the struggle between French and English settlers as well as the Native Americans living there. </div><div><br /></div><div>The trilogy included <i>The heroine of the Strait: A Romance of Detroit in the Time of Pontiac</i> (1902); <i>Love Thrives in War: a Romance of the Frontier in 1812</i> (1903); and <i>In treaty with Honor : a Romance of Old Quebec</i> (1906). </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div><i>The Pilot</i> called her three novels “vivid and enchanting pictures of its progress and of the heroic personages whose lives are forever linked with its history”.</div><div><br /></div><div>Crowley often returned to Boston on speaking tours and was warmly greeted by her friends and fans. In December, 1903, she appeared at the John Boyle O’Reilly Reading Club and also the Adventure Club in Lawrence, where she lectured on the 'Evolution of a Novelist.' The following February, 1904, Crowley gave an illustrated presentation of Madonna in Modern Art at St. Alphonsus Hall, Roxbury, and at Fitton High School in East Boston, where many people who knew her grandparents came out to meet her.</div><div><br /></div><div>Read about other accomplished <a href="https://irishmassachusetts.blogspot.com/2023/03/historic-irish-women-of-massachusetts.html" target="_blank">Irish women in Massachusetts history</a>.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><i>- Research + Text, Michael Quinlin </i></div><div><br /></div>irishboston.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318913501694126116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420730661983210784.post-19314522598882461852024-02-29T01:01:00.003-05:002024-02-29T10:59:50.529-05:00Boston Public Library Commission Proposes a Hibernica Room to House its Vast Irish Collections<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSfxo2JejZepfdJQn0qfbgJqL_3fewoimjGRUsJiJkj1xvmtalsoOgOlSK7WGCONaM3UTDOYZeoEjfSEomwBYHS4TerEf-bX7mQ8cDxSuRHPvzQ0xPY1i52oDZj5cHYvZGmZK0x3PAP3KZ9ZtrqAlgSjvinLTZiHpQxlVeKEzuUPvZFMFRXxafr_gb_Dk_/s2801/BPL%20exterior.%20vintage.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1516" data-original-width="2801" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSfxo2JejZepfdJQn0qfbgJqL_3fewoimjGRUsJiJkj1xvmtalsoOgOlSK7WGCONaM3UTDOYZeoEjfSEomwBYHS4TerEf-bX7mQ8cDxSuRHPvzQ0xPY1i52oDZj5cHYvZGmZK0x3PAP3KZ9ZtrqAlgSjvinLTZiHpQxlVeKEzuUPvZFMFRXxafr_gb_Dk_/w640-h346/BPL%20exterior.%20vintage.png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p>The Boston Public Library Centennial Commission considered a proposal in February 1954 to create a Hibernica Room at the Copley Square library, to house the vast amount of material on the history, social and economic development, biography, and literature of the Irish, particularly of the progress and achievement of persons of Irish birth and ancestry in America. <br /><br />The Boston Public Library Centennial Commission was formed in 1953 to reflect upon the library's first hundred years and to chart a course for the future, which included plans to increase the library's spending budget for new books and eventually to expand the library to accommodate the growing needs of its constituents. <br /><br />The proposal for a Hibernica Room was presented at a meeting at the library, according to a <i>Boston Globe</i> story. "The project was presented most persuasively by Paul E. Tierney, chairman of the Irish-American committee; Patrick F. McDonald, president of the Library trustees; Milton E. Lord, Librarian; John I. Taylor, chairman of special gifts, and Bishop John J. Wright of Worcester, Envoy Extraordinary. <br /><br />"In his remarks. Bishop Wright stressed particularly the value of a repository for the history and achievements of the Irish in this country since two great universities, Harvard and Boston College, already have remarkable collections of Irish-American material," the story continued.<br /><br /> Bishop Wright said, "It would be a great tragedy if the only record of our people should be found in newspaper files. It is to Boston, in the long haul, that historians will look back with the greatest satisfaction for the story of the Irish in America, for it is in Boston only that assimilation has combined with a reservation of the real values which are basically and characteristically Irish."<br /><br />The Centennial Commission estimates the initial cost of the Hibernica Room at $150,000, its development to be continued by endowments and bequests. <br /><br />A few weeks later, the Commission received its first donation to the Hibernica Room, presented by the American League for an Undivided Ireland. <div><br /></div><div>Learn more about Boston's Irish history by visiting <a href="http://IrishHeritageTrail.com">IrishHeritageTrail.com</a>. <br /><br /><br /></div>irishboston.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318913501694126116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420730661983210784.post-29735585437567530162024-02-26T00:08:00.020-05:002024-02-27T01:11:16.270-05:00Boston Writer Mary Blake (1840-1907) of County Waterford, Published Poetry, Children's Books and Travelogues <span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe0iXnMgtDw0v_T5SOv3ezcfFWDzJAeGfgvyvAWb9QGVprxQWyikuWYuIt7s6N5cNj6s1GYti9QIlZ6xnyuvNPo4z73cnaCVDBMCsZufhepqkmuu4TXQwemp8e7XqPJL1EuPVsTAcNIcEcUQrf71A6ZorbewuIhVHY3yBhB3fvl2ZrPlEot8dOKvIkdAlC/s485/Verses%20along%20the%20way.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="485" data-original-width="324" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe0iXnMgtDw0v_T5SOv3ezcfFWDzJAeGfgvyvAWb9QGVprxQWyikuWYuIt7s6N5cNj6s1GYti9QIlZ6xnyuvNPo4z73cnaCVDBMCsZufhepqkmuu4TXQwemp8e7XqPJL1EuPVsTAcNIcEcUQrf71A6ZorbewuIhVHY3yBhB3fvl2ZrPlEot8dOKvIkdAlC/w428-h640/Verses%20along%20the%20way.jpeg" width="428" /></a></div></span><br />Boston poet and Irish ex-pat Mary (McGrath) Blake died at her home in Boston on February 26, 1907 at age 67. <i>The Boston Pilot </i>wrote that she "was considered one of Boston's sweetest poets and combined a pleasing literary style with a gracious personality."<br />Born in Dungarvan, County Waterford in 1840, she emigrated with her family to America in 1849 and settled in Quincy, Massachusetts. According to <i>The Pilot</i>, "she early on developed an aptitude for composition, while at the Quincy High School, Mr. Emerson's private school, and later at the Convent of the Sacred Heart at Manhattanville, N. Y., her abilities in this direction were remarked. She taught for a time in the public schools of Quincy."<br />In her teens she published poetry in <i>The Boston Pilot</i> and later in <i>Boston Transcript </i>and<i> Boston Journal</i>. Mary wrote commemorative poems about Wendall Phillips and the Sisters of Charity, and forceful poems in which she challenged anti-Irish sentiment in Boston, ‘Who cast a slur on Irish worth, a stain on Irish fame?’<br />In 1865 she married Dr. John G. Blake and they had 11 children, 6 of whom survived. Their son Arthur Blake, born in 1872, went to the first Modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 and place second in the 1500 meters.<br />Her best known poems, wrote the Pilot, included " Women of the Revolution," " How Ireland Answered," " The First Steps," " The Little Sailor Kiss," " Our Record " and a " A Dead Summer."<br />In addition to her poetry, Black also published published children’s books and three travelogues about entitled "Mexican Travels," "A Summer Holiday in Europe," and "On the Wing."<br /><i>Boston Pilot</i> Editor Katherine E. Conway, who worked with Blake for over two decades, said of Blake, "She was a sincere and original writer, and her words are those of a worker along the paths of sincerity and the thoughts of the daily life and nature of manhood. She is worthy of the greatest praise because she was a woman of the ordinary type; that is, a woman who had to bear the same cares and responsibilities as many others. She had her family to take care of; she had a father and a mother to guard and protect in their old age; she had many church and social positions demanding much of her time, and yet. in spite of all these, she found some time in which to devote herself to the more pleasing pursuits of literature."<br />Her funeral mass took place at Immaculate Conception Church in Boston's South End. Archbishop William H. O'Connell said the mass, along with a dozen other priests. She is buried at Holyhead Cemetery in Brookline. <br /><br /><br />- Research + Text, Michael Quinlin<div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div>irishboston.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318913501694126116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420730661983210784.post-87071655928925753492024-02-22T12:50:00.018-05:002024-02-22T23:02:32.259-05:00Returning from the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, President Woodrow Wilson is confronted by Suffragette and Irish Protests in Boston<br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoSbbhH5IwfPF0jlyS0HSp-rWVZDdfWi31Y02fqqUSIDE1dzsx9yYJSJRZDe1xqD-cGMUDEJ3qgXceXYjfcjYRM6xhTSmx68lXsV8d6B0xvtr0XXM8Qr1ZsH8KZedp1MPzTGiN3lhK7oADtMzAAoJgcU_m6P6RvNjya4yvhyphenhyphenGD6Di0BbY-q6312dL56NhG/s547/WWilson%20on%20boat%201919%20boston.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="442" data-original-width="547" height="518" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoSbbhH5IwfPF0jlyS0HSp-rWVZDdfWi31Y02fqqUSIDE1dzsx9yYJSJRZDe1xqD-cGMUDEJ3qgXceXYjfcjYRM6xhTSmx68lXsV8d6B0xvtr0XXM8Qr1ZsH8KZedp1MPzTGiN3lhK7oADtMzAAoJgcU_m6P6RvNjya4yvhyphenhyphenGD6Di0BbY-q6312dL56NhG/w640-h518/WWilson%20on%20boat%201919%20boston.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i>President Wilson on deck of Coast Guard cutter Ossipee, approaching Commonwealth Pier in South Boston, February 24, 1919. </i></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><i> <a href="https://credo.library.umass.edu/view/full/muph061-sl779-i009" target="_blank">Photo courtesy of UMass/Amherst, University Archives</a>.</i></div><p></p><p>U.S. President Woodrow Wilson arrived in Boston, Massachusetts aboard the USS George Washington on February 24, 1919, with a series of parades and protests awaiting him. The president was returning from the Paris Peace Conference in France, where he and other world leaders, generals, diplomats and government officials were trying to broker a post-World War I agreement that would stand the test of time. </p><p>At the heart of the conference, especially from the perspective of Ireland and the Irish Diaspora in the United States, was whether the talks would result in freedom and independence for small nations in Europe, including Ireland. </p><p>The day Wilson arrived in Boston, a two-day Irish Race Convention was just ending in Philadelphia. More than 5,000 people attended the convention, discussing how best persuade Wilson to support Ireland's declared pleas and demands for self-determination, in the wake of the Irish Rising of 1916 and the long quest from freedom. </p><p>Britain ultimately vetoed Ireland's right to even get a hearing at the Paris Peace Conference, despite pressure from Irish-American leaders like <a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2019/06/us-senate-presses-paris-peach-talks-to.html" target="_blank">Senator David I. Walsh</a> of Massachusetts. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp4oF-_HpSM7Vbctvc78aFWx5E-WpvxDjoTX4PEy94gk1L9qrr0wvKGbA7FD32yRN2xos7g7RXyPpcdMNIMyyiJ3YXj6XMSF0Gs54fk83n5Ud1dsDZ5_0x1svh5w6qBwCBKpCAh6j7J9u9sj0l6bXfaFSotFmJgE_xHQpyKAahCDZU0_1A5ZpHr-59eFUN/s1173/what%20sinn%20fein%20asks.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1173" data-original-width="693" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp4oF-_HpSM7Vbctvc78aFWx5E-WpvxDjoTX4PEy94gk1L9qrr0wvKGbA7FD32yRN2xos7g7RXyPpcdMNIMyyiJ3YXj6XMSF0Gs54fk83n5Ud1dsDZ5_0x1svh5w6qBwCBKpCAh6j7J9u9sj0l6bXfaFSotFmJgE_xHQpyKAahCDZU0_1A5ZpHr-59eFUN/w236-h400/what%20sinn%20fein%20asks.jpeg" width="236" /></a></div><p>Sinn Fein issued a strong statement, issued in the <i>Kentucky Irish American newspaper</i>, dated February 22, 1919, which said in part: </p><i>"Internationally Ireland is the gateway to the Atlantic. Ireland is the last outpost of Europe toward the West; Ireland is the point upon which great traded routes between East and West converge; her Independence is demanded by the freedom of the seas; her great harbors must be open to all nations, instead of being the monopoly of England. Today these harbors are empty and idle because English policy is determined to retain Ireland as a barren, bulwark for English aggrandizement, and the unique geographical position of this Island, far from being a benefit and safeguard to Europe and America, a subjected to the purposes of England's policy of world dominion.</i><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>"Ireland, resolutely and irrevocably determined at the dawn of the promised era of self-determination and liberty, that she will suffer foreign dominion no longer. Ireland calls upon every free nation to uphold her national claim to complete Independence as an Irish republic against the arrogant pretensions of England founded in fraud and sustained only by an overwhelming military occupation. Ireland demands to be confronted publicly with England at the Congress of Nations, that the civilized world having judged between English wrong and Irish right may guarantee to Ireland its permanent support for the maintenance of her national Independence."</i><div><i><br /></i></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAXkIr0BFnKzYZqQH-tW12rQwz1WPCbGe7v-NpHu-SKV6t2R6PN-kuKOYwpgkXuq1ZMrCV-Uhxluo8uao9B0ZelvoWisZf0LSViw1xIa310VLCYES2vMkc2sViu_XCQK6ASK1JBaVgvv3zz_r8TWkn9jAjjkyILjtYJc4bk_Kg3Ry4QKPtwvz1eUt_OX_C/s806/Suffrage%20protest%20boston%201919%20W.Wilson-EDIT.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="806" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAXkIr0BFnKzYZqQH-tW12rQwz1WPCbGe7v-NpHu-SKV6t2R6PN-kuKOYwpgkXuq1ZMrCV-Uhxluo8uao9B0ZelvoWisZf0LSViw1xIa310VLCYES2vMkc2sViu_XCQK6ASK1JBaVgvv3zz_r8TWkn9jAjjkyILjtYJc4bk_Kg3Ry4QKPtwvz1eUt_OX_C/w640-h476/Suffrage%20protest%20boston%201919%20W.Wilson-EDIT.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://www.historicnewengland.org/explore/collections-access/gusn/225191/" target="_blank">Photo courtesy of Historic New England.</a></i></div><br />In addition to the parade, promenades and official welcomes from Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge and Boston Mayor Andrew Peters, Wilson also encountered women protestors from the Massachusetts Suffrage Association, the Women's Suffrage Club, and the Women's Trade Union. </div><div><br /></div><div>Wilson meet briefly with the suffragette representatives at his hotel. As he was boarding his train to Washington, DC at South Station at the end of the visit, the president met with women union leaders, and "gave a short audience on the platform to Miss Mabel Gillespie, secretary of the Boston Women's Trade Union League, Miss Mary E. Meehan, representing the Allied Printing Trade, and Miss Mary B. Quinn, president of the Springfield Telephone Operators Union," according to a local report.</div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>- Research and story by Michael Quinlin</i></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><i><br /></i><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p></div></div></div>irishboston.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318913501694126116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420730661983210784.post-16179790359990050842024-02-16T17:32:00.015-05:002024-02-17T12:20:07.405-05:00Irish Art, Statues and Rare Artifacts at the Massachusetts State House, along Boston's Irish Heritage Trail <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTs2eBoAiCZTlWG-hBPHBHrAIljIEJ3koHAaBZtD_xNOCpvNrxBokQwj8lDWJLmBUD5Wi1EjdJ7lMbkMZ9LbYBPx0TFQknvzKPWRIDXNzjDkWQwU93mLcFMgQ0fwDcr5jR_-LXKmbY6mYpSRvA8l7-9YoSitjZIyWtWyeAxCD0akLQnIXF8hLDRZ5xXU4r/s1080/MAStatehouse%20poster-final.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTs2eBoAiCZTlWG-hBPHBHrAIljIEJ3koHAaBZtD_xNOCpvNrxBokQwj8lDWJLmBUD5Wi1EjdJ7lMbkMZ9LbYBPx0TFQknvzKPWRIDXNzjDkWQwU93mLcFMgQ0fwDcr5jR_-LXKmbY6mYpSRvA8l7-9YoSitjZIyWtWyeAxCD0akLQnIXF8hLDRZ5xXU4r/w640-h640/MAStatehouse%20poster-final.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>The Massachusetts State House has a number of beautiful and rare works of art and artifacts relating to the Irish-American experience, and is a featured stop along <a href="http://irishheritagetrail.com/boston/loc_8.php" target="_blank">Boston's Irish Heritage Trail</a>. <div><br /></div><div>The incredible collection of art and artifacts is maintained and curated by the <a href="https://www.mass.gov/orgs/state-house-art-commission" target="_blank">State House Art Commission</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>Here is just a selection of items worth seeing the next time you visit the Massachusetts State House. <br /><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><b><a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2020/06/irish-9th-regiment-of-massachusetts.html" target="_blank">Irish Flags, 9th Irish Regiment</a></b><br />The flags of the famous Massachusetts Fighting 9th Regiment, which fought in all of America's wars, from the Civil War to the Korean War, is in the Hall of Flags at the State House. Mustered into service on June 11, 1861, the regiment was headed by Colonel Thomas Cass (1821-62), an Irish immigrant who organized the Irish immigrant regiment following the Battle of Fort Sumter in April, 1861, when President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for 75,000 volunteers to defend the Union. Today facsimiles of the flags are on display at Memorial Hall, the main rotunda of the State House, part of a 350 flag collection dating from the Revolutionary War to the present. The actual flags are in an environmentally controlled storage space in the State House, and can be viewed by special appointment.<div><br /></div><div><b><a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2022/06/on-june-12-1775-maine-sailor-jeremiah.html" target="_blank">Captain Jeremiah O'Brien Plaque</a></b></div>Jeremiah O'Brien (1744-1818) created the "first act of Colonial piracy" in the Revolutionary War, when he, his four brothers and townsmen led an attack on the British cutter Margaretta on June 12, 1775 at Machias, Maine, defeating the ship and taking its munitions as bounty. Maine was part of the Massachusetts Colony until 1820. In 1937 a plaque created by John Paramino was placed at the Massachusetts State House commemorating O'Brien's "distinguished services for winning the first navel engagement in the War of the Revolution and of his subsequent exploits in said war as the first regularly commissioned naval officer and commander of the Revolutionary Navy of Massachusetts." It is located on the staircase next to the Hall of Flags.<div><br /></div><div><b><a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2022/09/irish-american-labor-leader-mary-kenny.html" target="_blank">Margaret O'Kenney O'Sullivan Plaque</a></b></div>Mary Kenney O'Sullivan (1864-1943) was a nationally acclaimed union organizer who lived in Boston for 50 years. She created the National Women's Trade Union League in New York City and traveled to many Massachusetts cities like New Bedford and to Lawrence, where she was a strong supporter of the 1912 "Bread and Roses" strike by the city's 30,000 textile workers. A plaque in her honor is featured in the Women's Portrait Gallery next to Doric Hall at the State House. It reads, "As leader of the WTUL, Mary O'Sullivan forged alliances between middle-and working-class women. A leader in Massachusetts reform circles, she focused her efforts on woman suffrage, housing for the poor, prohibition, and pacifism. However, her highest priority remained the advancement of working women."<br /><div><br /></div><div><b><a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2015/05/jfk-statue-at-massachusetts-state-house.html" target="_blank">Statue of President John F. Kennedy</a></b></div>An 8 foot 2 inch tall bronze depiction of President John F. Kennedy (1917-63), purposeful and confident in full stride, was created by sculptor Isabel McIlvain of Sherborn, and unveiled on May 30, 1990. Among those at the unveiling were US Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, US Representative Joseph Kennedy II, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and other family members and friends. A wreath is laid at the JFK statue on the president’s birthday and inauguration date. The statue is on the lawn of the State House grounds facing Beacon Hill.<div><br /></div><div><b><a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2024/01/president-elect-john-f-kennedy-gives.html" target="_blank">JFK's City on a Hill Plaque</a></b></div>On January 9, 1961, President-Elect John F. Kennedy delivered his now-famous "City on a Hill" speech at the Massachusetts State House before a joint session of the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Kennedy was welcomed to the Chamber by Governor John A. Volpe and Senate President John E. Powers of South Boston. During his nine-minute speech, Kennedy addressed the audience as a proud native son, mindful of his family's deep connection to the Commonwealth. A plaque with text from JFK's speech commemorates this historical occasion. <div><br /></div><div><b><a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2023/09/boston-sculptor-martin-milmore-born.html" target="_blank">Bust of Senator Charles Sumner</a></b></div><div>Irish immigrant Martin Milmore (1844-83) was a talented sculptor whose work during his brief life of 39 years remains relevant today. He and his brothers, also talented artists, emigrated to Boston in 1851 with their widowed mother. Martin attended Boston Latin and apprenticed with noted sculptor Thomas Ball. Milmore's bust of Senator Charles Sumner, made in 1863-65, was the first of several pieces he did on the famous senator. This one employs classical clothing and style. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">In November, 1869, Milmore was awarded a gold medal for the Sumner bust at an exhibition by the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics’ Association.”</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Irish-American Governors</b></span></div>The first governor of Massachusetts with Irish ancestry was Governor James Sullivan, who served in 1807. His parents were Irish immigrants and indentured servants who settled in New Hampshire in the 1740s. The 20th century ushered in the first Irish-American Catholic, Governor David I. Walsh, elected in 1914, followed by a string of others Irish-American governors, including James Michael Curley, Charles Francis Hurley, Maurice Tobin, Paul Dever and Ed King. Their portraits can be found on the walls throughout the State House. In the 21st century, Deval Patrick, Charlie Baker and Maura Healey have all noted their Irish ancestry. <div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><div><br /></div><div>Find more information and media coverage of the <a href="https://irishboston.org/tours.php#media" target="_blank">Boston Irish Heritage Trail</a>. To learn about Irish cultural activities taking place in Massachusetts and throughout New England, visit <a href="http://IrishMassachusetts.com">IrishMassachusetts.com</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>© Boston Irish Tourism Association<br /><div> <div><p><br /></p></div></div></div></div></div></div>irishboston.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318913501694126116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420730661983210784.post-36821393714262443482024-02-15T15:16:00.025-05:002024-02-27T16:41:43.155-05:00 Boston Landmarks Depict Irish and Scots-Irish Heroics in the American Revolution<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9suKNr5eVEvNESpCydHmzb1bb1drTr9nvQJhMmAZI7bwSloIqg5mMVeSU2y5qqKWkD-AKVplB1L2F7GTjNMcQr9mhTW0V7o4GbUBC8PUYOykoDA9Eghc2hXvkJHmpZ8Iy7RZ6AfuRV38YEoTX8KoeBTYavnYgB6yF6q5Lar8HuPGvoT71lAa0ONGOzt0E/s1080/Rev%20Irish%20poster%20%202024.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9suKNr5eVEvNESpCydHmzb1bb1drTr9nvQJhMmAZI7bwSloIqg5mMVeSU2y5qqKWkD-AKVplB1L2F7GTjNMcQr9mhTW0V7o4GbUBC8PUYOykoDA9Eghc2hXvkJHmpZ8Iy7RZ6AfuRV38YEoTX8KoeBTYavnYgB6yF6q5Lar8HuPGvoT71lAa0ONGOzt0E/w640-h640/Rev%20Irish%20poster%20%202024.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br />Irish and Scots-Irish immigrants played a pivotal role in the Revolutionary War, as evidenced by the number of public landmarks that relate to their heroics and sacrifice. From Commodore John Barry and General John Sullivan to Boston Massacre victim Patrick Carr and the Scots-Irish who fought at Bunker Hill and Dorchester Heights, the Irish were front and center during America's battle for independence. <br /><br />The <a href="about://">Boston Irish Heritage Trail</a> gives a glimpse of the Revolutionary Irish through landmarks on Boston Common, the Massachusetts State House, Granary Burying Ground and Bunker Hill Monument. Many of these landmarks intersect with <a href="about://">Boston's Freedom Trail,</a> which provides an important overview of Boston's instrumental role in the American Revolution. <br /><br />Visit the <a href="about://">Boston Common Visitor Information Center</a> at 139 Tremont Street for a free map of the Irish Heritage Trail, and take a self-guided tour. Here are some Revolutionary landmarks with Irish connections. <div><br /><b>Granary Burying Ground</b><br /><br />The <a href="https://www.boston.gov/cemeteries/granary-burying-ground">Granary Burying Ground</a>, established in 1660, is located on Tremont Street in downtown Boston, about two blocks from City Hall. Largely used in the 18th century to bury Puritan leaders, the Granary Burying Ground has several Irish buried in its grounds. Among them is James Sullivan (1744-1808), lawyer, orator and governor of Massachusetts. The son of indentured Irish servants from County Cork and the brother of General John Sullivan, James was a delegate to the Continental Congress and governor of Massachusetts in 1807.<br /><br />William Hall (d. 1771), a founder in 1737 of the Charitable Irish Society, the nation’s oldest Irish organization, is also buried in the Granary.<br /><br />Perhaps the most visited gravesite in the Old Granary belongs to the Boston Massacre victims, which include Irishman Patrick Carr. Described by the Boston Gazette as a leather-breeches-maker, Carr and fellow Irishman Charles Connor heard the shouts on March 5, 1770 and moved toward the scene of the crime, according to Connor’s testimony.<br /><br />Carr was the last man to be shot. He lingered for several days before dying of his wounds and was buried at the gravesite with the other four martyrs on March 17, 1770. His testimony helped to partially exonerate the soldiers who fired the shots. <br /><br /></div><div><b>Boston Common</b><br /><br />The <a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-irish-role-in-boston-massacre.html">Boston Massacre Memorial</a> along Tremont Street was erected in 1888 by Irish leader John Boyle O'Reilly and other Bostonians, including African-American leaders. Mayor Hugh O'Brien, the first Irish Catholic elected as Boston mayor, called the Boston Massacre “one of the most important and exciting events that preceded our revolution." At the ceremony, O’Reilly read his poem about Crispus Attucks, the first man shot.<br /><br />A few hundred yards away, a memorial plaque to <a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2022/09/shipping-up-to-boston-harbor.html">Commodore John Barry </a>was unveiled along Tremont Street in 1949 by Mayor James Michael Curley. Commodore Barry was a naval hero in the Revolutionary War who was chosen by George Washington to create the first U.S. Navy. He was born in Tacumshane, County Wexford in 1745, and was a favorite historical figure of President John F. Kennedy. He is buried at Old St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Philadelphia.<br /><br />The <a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2022/11/central-burying-ground-on-boston-common.html">Central Burying Ground</a> on Boston Common also contains the graves of Irish residents from the 18th century. Established in 1756, the graveyard was used to bury 'strangers,' foreigners, indigents, and soldiers, including some British soldiers killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill. This is the only historic burying ground in downtown Boston where you'll see Celtic Crosses.<br /><br /></div><div><b>Copley Square Park</b><br /><br /><a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2020/07/painter-john-s-copley-born-in-boston.html">John Singleton Copley</a>, America’s first great portrait painter, was the son of two Irish immigrants from County Limerick and County Clare. He was born in Boston in 1737, and by the Revolutionary War had painted the portrait of the town’s leading citizens, British and American alike. Copley Square Park in Boston's Back Bay was named in his honor in 1883. In 2002, the city of Boston unveiled a statue of Copley by artist Lewis Cohen. Copley’s original home on Beacon Street also has a plaque in his honor.<br /><br /></div><div><b>Massachusetts State House</b><br /><br /><a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2018/08/naval-hero-jeremiah-obrien-honored-at.html">Jeremiah O'Brien</a> of Maine created the "first act of Colonial piracy" in the Revolutionary War, when he and his four brothers led an attack on the British cutter Margaretta on June 12, 1775 at Machias, Maine, defeating the ship and taking its munitions as bounty. In 1937, a plaque was placed on the staircase next to the Hall of Flags honoring O’Brien “for winning the first navel engagement in the War of the Revolution and of his subsequent exploits in said war as the first regularly commissioned naval officer and commander of the Revolutionary Navy of Massachusetts." A portrait and a bas relief of Governor James Sullivan can also be found in the State House.<br /><br />Finally, a number of famous paintings by first generation Irish-American John S. Copley are in the State House, including portraits of John Hancock, Samuel Adams and Thomas Gage.<br /><br /></div><div><b>Bunker Hill Monument</b><br /><br />Of the New England militiamen who rushed to Charlestown for the <a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-new-england-irish-connections-to.html">Battle of Bunker Hill </a>in June 1775, nearly 200 were Irish-born, and several hundred more were born of Scots-Irish parents, according to historian Michael J. O'Brien. Among them was Colonel John Stark of New Hampshire, one of the heroes of the day-long conflict, whose Scottish-born father and mother lived in Northern Ireland before immigrating New Hampshire.<br /><br />Major Andrew McClary of Epson, New Hampshire, whose parents were Scots-Irish from County Tyrone in Ulster, was killed at the very end of the battle after fighting bravely throughout the day. Also fighting was Captain Ebenezer Sullivan, whose brothers James, who became governor of Massachusetts, and General John Sullivan, who forced English troops to evacuate Boston on March 17, 1776.<br /><br /></div><div><b>Dorchester Heights Monument</b><br /><br /><a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2022/02/revolutionary-war-hero-general-john.html">General John Sullivan</a>, who led the Siege of Boston from Dorchester Heights in March, 1776, forcing British troops to withdraw from Boston, was the third of five sons born to Owen Sullivan of Limerick and Margery Browne of Cork, both indentured servants from Ireland who settled in New Hampshire. Sullivan commanded a brigade at Dorchester Heights during the Siege of Boston under the leadership of General George Washington. The password used to enter the fortifications that day was "Boston" and the counter-password was "St. Patrick."<br /><br />It was <a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2022/01/henry-knox-delivers-ticonderoga-cannons.html">Henry Knox</a>, who retrieved captured British cannons at Fort Ticonderoga in New York and dragged them 300 miles to Boston in the dead of winter. Knox was the son of Scots-Irish immigrants; his father and uncles were from Coleraine, Londonderry. They were original members of the Charitable Irish Society, formed in 1737 to help Irish newly arrived in Boston, a tradition carried on by the Society today. <br /><br />You can pick up a free map of the Irish Heritage Trail at the <a href="https://www.meetboston.com/plan/visitor-centers-and-guides/">Boston Common Visitor Information Center,</a> or <a href="https://irishboston.org/Boston_Irish_Heritage_Trail_Map.pdf">download a copy</a> at IrishHeritageTrail.com.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><i>- Research + Text, Michael Quinlin</i></div><div><br /></div>irishboston.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318913501694126116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420730661983210784.post-62629485764952392222024-02-14T12:57:00.023-05:002024-02-18T19:02:51.378-05:00Frederick Douglass and John Boyle O'Reilly, Allies for Freedom and Liberty<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5GTeYyAtk7bfNXlJUQ0nETdWl-Ffj7G5GSqlFK9tAEH13Hc5gOXz9Dd0Bhji8x43d9Kjiysyrgq0iYULXdcZLPLi3OAFGFsdXAfJDm6Ao9OWqYVA-sX3hPjNo0GW2ASNtJGprrZwvQlELIoVoXLftLej5QtgzwuEBApp1aN6i6IM5kjrxDqK5_cmAzWsq/s1200/IrishBlackBoston_O'Reilly_Douglass.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5GTeYyAtk7bfNXlJUQ0nETdWl-Ffj7G5GSqlFK9tAEH13Hc5gOXz9Dd0Bhji8x43d9Kjiysyrgq0iYULXdcZLPLi3OAFGFsdXAfJDm6Ao9OWqYVA-sX3hPjNo0GW2ASNtJGprrZwvQlELIoVoXLftLej5QtgzwuEBApp1aN6i6IM5kjrxDqK5_cmAzWsq/w640-h334/IrishBlackBoston_O'Reilly_Douglass.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />John Boyle O’Reilly and Frederick Douglass were natural allies in 19th century New England, where they aligned on pressing issues of liberty and justice for all. <p></p><div>In the early part of their lives, both men were fugitives, on the run from their captors as they tried to make their way to freedom. Both became writers and used their considerable skills to advocate for their own people, but also for other groups being denied equal rights and freedoms. And both men were powerful and persuasive orators who spoke truth to power even when it went against the grain of public opinion.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://irishboston.org/JBOReilly.pdf" target="_blank">O’Reilly</a> (1844-1890) was an Irish rebel whom the British exiled to a life imprisonment at a penal colony in Australia. He made a daring escape on a New Bedford whaling ship and eventually reached America, where he settled in Boston in January 1870. As editor and later publisher of <i>The Boston Pilot</i>, he used his considerable skills as a writer to advocate for Ireland’s independence, and for the rights of Blacks, Native Americans and other ethnic groups coming to America in the late 19th century. </div><div><br /></div><div>Douglass (1817-1895) was born into slavery in Maryland and escaped his bondage in 1838, making his way to New York and then New Bedford. His book, <i>An American Slave: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas</i>, published in 1845, made him a spokesperson for the abolitionist movement. He wrote for T<i>he Liberator</i>, a Boston newspaper published by William Lloyd Garrison and later started a series of newspapers himself, the last being named the <i>New National Er</i>a. </div><div><br /></div><div>Douglass was also heavily influenced by a trip he made to Ireland in 1845-46, in which he witnessed first hand the treatment of the Irish under British rule. He met with Irish liberator <a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2023/09/on-september-29-1845-frederick-douglass.html" target="_blank">Daniel O'Connell</a>, and spent several months touring Ireland and meeting the people. </div><div><br /></div><div>In a <a href="https://glc.yale.edu/letter-william-lloyd-garrison-january-1-1846" target="_blank">letter to Lloyd Garrison</a> on January 1, 1846, Douglass wrote, "I can truly say, I have spent some of the happiest moments of my life since landing in this country....I gaze around in vain for one who will question my equal humanity, claim me as his slave, or offer me an insult….No delicate nose grows deformed in my presence. I find no difficulty here in obtaining admission into any place of worship, instruction or amusement, on equal terms with people as white as any I ever saw in the United States. I meet nothing to remind me of my complexion. I find myself regarded and treated at every turn with the kindness and deference paid to white people." <br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Back in America, antagonism between Irish and Blacks occurred frequently in the 19th century, as both competed for low-paying jobs and sought to escape the ‘inferior status’ that had been thrust upon them by their enemies. O’Reilly and Douglass tried in their lifetimes to eliminate that antagonism by bringing the two communities together, across the fields of politics, religion and civic life. Black leaders endorsed Irish leaders such as Charles Stuart Parnell, Ireland's Home Rule advocate, while Boston Irish leaders such as O'Reilly, Hugh O'Brien and Patrick A.Collins advocated for social justice and equal treatment for Blacks. </div><div><br /></div><div>O'Reilly was the keynote speaker at the <a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2023/12/john-boyle-oreilly-is-keynote-speaker.html" target="_blank">Massachusetts Colored League</a> convention at Faneuil Hall in December 1886, And it was O’Reilly, along with Black leader William H. Dupree, Mayor Hugh O'Brien and others, who helped spearhead the <a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2020/11/boston-massacre-memorial-unveiled-on.html" target="_blank">Boston Massacre monument</a> on Boston Common, unveiled in 1888. <a href="https://cityofboston.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_5373492e-24b0-452d-9094-1716dd3f9295/" target="_blank">Douglass was invited</a> to be the orator at the ceremony, but had to decline due to prior commitments. Instead, O'Reilly read a poem at the unveiling he wrote entitled, "The Boston Massacre," in which he praised Crispus Attucks and the other martyrs.</div><div><br /></div><div>A month after the memorial unveiling, the Black community invited O’Reilly to recite his poem on December 18, 1888 at the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/boaf/learn/historyculture/charles-street-meeting-house.htm" target="_blank">Charles Street Meeting House</a>, a pillar of the city’s Black community in the 19th century, according to his <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008967956" target="_blank">biography</a> written by James Jeffrey Roche.</div><div><br /></div><div>Before reciting the Attucks poem, O’Reilly spoke to the congregation, “The colored men have their future in their own hands; but they have a harder task before them than they had in 1860. It is easier to break political bonds than the bonds of ignorance and prejudice. The next twenty-five years can bring many reforms, and by proper training our colored fellow-citizens may easily be their own protectors. They must, above all things, establish a brotherhood of race. Make it so strong that its members will be proud of it, proud of living as colored Americans, and desirous of devoting their energy to the advancement of their people.” </div><div><br /></div><div>O'Reilly and Douglass remained allies until O’Reilly's untimely death on August 10, 1890. Douglass wrote, “I regret very deeply to learn of the sudden death of O’Reilly. He was a man whom I honored.”
</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRo16LudNTv2cAY_Tll35wsZGgRm340oLn-ak_t5tlrL1omDI1gl1EBAtV3iNOT7LhJAly_1JZaPsKBpqiHufuAeY53_NiMshNLvK8DkE55stqwUFZskJV2IbpnIbwLI41Jn0Vo66XhoR5lC6LoHzKT9fvuB11XmHbfP7NzOYDkpY9F8nMtaV884x-_a54/s2744/John%20Boyle%20O'Reilly%20Memorial_Fens.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1545" data-original-width="2744" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRo16LudNTv2cAY_Tll35wsZGgRm340oLn-ak_t5tlrL1omDI1gl1EBAtV3iNOT7LhJAly_1JZaPsKBpqiHufuAeY53_NiMshNLvK8DkE55stqwUFZskJV2IbpnIbwLI41Jn0Vo66XhoR5lC6LoHzKT9fvuB11XmHbfP7NzOYDkpY9F8nMtaV884x-_a54/w640-h360/John%20Boyle%20O'Reilly%20Memorial_Fens.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>O'Reilly Monument in The Fens</i></div></i><div><br /></div><div>The John Boyle O'Reilly Monument, created by sculptor Daniel French, is at the corner of Boylston Street and The Fens, and is part of <a href="http://irishheritagetrail.com/boston/loc_19.php" target="_blank">Boston's Irish Heritage Trail</a>. See a list of <a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2023/08/john-boyle-oreilly-defender-of.html" target="_blank">more O'Reilly memorials.</a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiomFomzaVpuztdqdrjDxgnnQccX-1O3KZKGbiKMxrVoKBzP5Ul6ieBaB0Bh7LIqdFrg2ibV9AnKiR4Vco7mqkHphyuOnVuA6Q4WzBCiYHcJZ9hFRbAwFtk1QpDaGod6SAyCjIo8nzNQ0cMqPJpyafMDcZoB9Kde1oo6j4vCY8m_yUesrPhMROp0xH9f3vE/s2560/Frederick%20Douglass%20statue-Abolition-Row-Ribbon-Cutting-274-scaled.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1707" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiomFomzaVpuztdqdrjDxgnnQccX-1O3KZKGbiKMxrVoKBzP5Ul6ieBaB0Bh7LIqdFrg2ibV9AnKiR4Vco7mqkHphyuOnVuA6Q4WzBCiYHcJZ9hFRbAwFtk1QpDaGod6SAyCjIo8nzNQ0cMqPJpyafMDcZoB9Kde1oo6j4vCY8m_yUesrPhMROp0xH9f3vE/w426-h640/Frederick%20Douglass%20statue-Abolition-Row-Ribbon-Cutting-274-scaled.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Douglass Statue in New Bedford</i></div><div><br /></div><div>A monument to Frederick Douglass was unveiled in <a href="https://www.newbedford-ma.gov/blog/news/city-celebrates-unveiling-of-fredrick-douglass-statue-and-opening-of-abolition-row-park/" target="_blank">New Bedford's Abolition Row Park</a> in June, 2023, and is part of New Bedford's <a href="https://nbhistoricalsociety.org/historic-trails/" target="_blank">Black Heritage Trail</a>. Plans are underway in Boston to place a <a href="https://www.boston.gov/departments/arts-and-culture/public-art-boston/public-art-projects-boston/legacy-frederick-douglass" target="_blank">statue of Frederick Douglass</a> in Roxbury. </div><div><br /></div><div>On February 14, 2024, a <a href="https://fortune.com/2024/02/14/father-of-the-abolitionist-movement-frederick-douglass-honored-in-massachusetts-statehouse-with-sculpture/" target="_blank">bust of Frederick Douglass</a> was unveiled in the Senate Chamber at the Massachusetts State House. </div><div><br /></div><div>For more about Boston's Irish history and heritage, visit <a href="http://IrishHeritageTrail.com">IrishHeritageTrail.com</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Research + Text, Michael Quinlin</i></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>irishboston.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318913501694126116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420730661983210784.post-59530399642115290242024-02-12T11:40:00.007-05:002024-02-17T12:36:19.994-05:00Boston Mayor John F. Fitzgerald, grandfather of President Kennedy, was born in the North End on February 11, 1863<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh96ji5y9BlXjPSzJlU06eyTTuym0PgOXgYLBTbRhf0MJNZJtqo4Lh8ENNZzTyrpWKjdYSuTN7ZRr9inGDnKcyUd1kYGfmsb1wjvVD2eA5XK0fpMhVaPNB5g-2OTSxBB56NkYzH9kj7a8jj-EIV7JsS5rckUUKOvCpaHRFJbKmhHYP9ZWUzK_WPkx2E3WGo/s2678/John%20Honey%20Fitz%20on%20horse.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2222" data-original-width="2678" height="532" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh96ji5y9BlXjPSzJlU06eyTTuym0PgOXgYLBTbRhf0MJNZJtqo4Lh8ENNZzTyrpWKjdYSuTN7ZRr9inGDnKcyUd1kYGfmsb1wjvVD2eA5XK0fpMhVaPNB5g-2OTSxBB56NkYzH9kj7a8jj-EIV7JsS5rckUUKOvCpaHRFJbKmhHYP9ZWUzK_WPkx2E3WGo/w640-h532/John%20Honey%20Fitz%20on%20horse.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Photo Courtesy of the Boston Public Library</div><p></p>John Fitzgerald, the grandfather of U.S. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was born on February 11, 1863 in Boston's North End, one of 12 children born to Irish immigrant Thomas Fitzgerald of Limerick and Mary Josephine Hannon of Acton, MA.<br /><br />Fitzgerald was an audacious, colorful politician whose melodious singing voice earned him the nickname Honey Fitz. His political career took shape quickly. He worked his way up from the Boston Common Council in 1892 to state senate in 1893. In the congressional primary held in September 1894, Fitzgerald beat sitting Congressman Joseph H. O'Neill, a popular Democrat who had held the seat since 1889. In the final election, Fitzgerald beat Republican challenger, Boston Alderman Jesse Morse Gove, winning by a mere 1,916 votes.<br /><br />His daughter, <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">Rose Fitzgerald</a>, married Joseph P. Kennedy from East Boston, spawning the <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">Kennedy political dynasty</a> that dominated Boston for most of the 20th century.<br /><br />Fitzgerald was also the publisher of a weekly Boston newspaper, the Republic, described on the masthead as "an Irish-American Family journal," and was also involved in real estate and insurance. <br /><br />When Mayor Patrick Collins died suddenly in 1905, Fitzgerald became mayor of Boston, and served terms in 1906-7 and 1910-13. One of his great rivals during this time was <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">James Michael Curley</a>, a fellow Irish-American politician who was ascending into politics during the same era. <div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjjLjGmcGmZ5MxNwk1hpiuvS8hq28TAZ1BNNKW-S5dtwf9Exe5oFnutTRYSd8hb5eKSLsjiSuxgxnpy_NlEcaeVy5KXAGz0viAMsaULvrS_D5HOwGbdWYOX9jRKtBsMrDwx6Lqvm6ZKkOGFCLorw4sQ8ovK74x9WmU3gOl6dz4_WbYOOjxQ7EYZaYBTuBf/s1442/HoneyFitz_Plaque%20North+Cross.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1442" data-original-width="1059" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjjLjGmcGmZ5MxNwk1hpiuvS8hq28TAZ1BNNKW-S5dtwf9Exe5oFnutTRYSd8hb5eKSLsjiSuxgxnpy_NlEcaeVy5KXAGz0viAMsaULvrS_D5HOwGbdWYOX9jRKtBsMrDwx6Lqvm6ZKkOGFCLorw4sQ8ovK74x9WmU3gOl6dz4_WbYOOjxQ7EYZaYBTuBf/w470-h640/HoneyFitz_Plaque%20North+Cross.jpeg" width="470" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Photo courtesy of Michael Quinlin</div><div><br /></div><div>A plaque in Honey Fitz's honor was erected in 1958 along the John F. Fitzgerald Expressway; the highway was later dismantled to make way for the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway. The plaque was reset and now sits along the John F. Fitzgerald Surface Road at the edge of the North End. <br /><br />Read <a href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/john-fitzgerald-mayor-of-a-bigger-better-busier-boston.htm">more about John F. Fitzgerald</a> at the John F. Kennedy National Historic Site in Brookline, MA. <div data-reader-unique-id="38" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 20px; max-width: 100%;"><br /></div><div>Find more information about Boston Irish history by visiting <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">IrishHeritageTrail.com</a>.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><i>Research + Text, Michael Quinlin</i></div><div>© Boston Irish Tourism Association</div><div><br /></div>irishboston.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318913501694126116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420730661983210784.post-64718007562728219472024-02-08T08:55:00.005-05:002024-02-08T09:03:46.691-05:00Irish Indentured Servants on the Run in 18th Century Boston <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp-ipxgTGjhE9m1Dx2zZgnf4Pv0r0O7L8yYcYnywKD6v-cHgdfMNeJbOfM91n-aEjvDxEdceoNs2UWL5CoUTrwodfa-vsnv0QASuqIUlsyiGLjtD6qL4nAcv6DVjHvZFtT7xZCx732UfIqpsia9vsUjUFd2UmcgrBNf5aV7x4EBu6uYuOzXWqs0dgLTnpT/s1080/Runaway%20Irish%20Servant%201725.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp-ipxgTGjhE9m1Dx2zZgnf4Pv0r0O7L8yYcYnywKD6v-cHgdfMNeJbOfM91n-aEjvDxEdceoNs2UWL5CoUTrwodfa-vsnv0QASuqIUlsyiGLjtD6qL4nAcv6DVjHvZFtT7xZCx732UfIqpsia9vsUjUFd2UmcgrBNf5aV7x4EBu6uYuOzXWqs0dgLTnpT/w640-h640/Runaway%20Irish%20Servant%201725.png" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>New England Courant, February 8-15, 1725</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Thousands of Irish boys and girls came to America in the 1700s as indentured servants. Some of them came voluntarily, while others were kidnapped by marauding British soldiers and sent over as cheap labor in the colonies. </div><div><br /></div><div>As indentured servants, many Irish and Scots gained passage to America by agreeing to work in servitude for up to seven years. But once they got here, many of them quickly absconded from their masters, as evidenced by the number of classified ads in the first half of the 18th century, like this ad for Mary Farrel in the <i>New England Courant</i> on January 29, 1725<br /><br />Little is known about Mary Farrel, apart from the ad, which describes her as a ‘runaway Irish servant maid’ with a reward for her return. When she absconded on a cold winter night, Farrel was wearing only ‘a black Griffet Gown, an old grey Petticoat, and a pair of Ticken Shoes with red heels.’ </div><div><br />Sometimes the runaway servants were caught and punished, only to escape again. Edmund Murphy absconded from Milton resident Thomas Craddock in November 1737, was captured and returned to Craddock, only to run away again in March 1738. Murphy's companion in the escape in May 1738 was Edmund Butler. He was described as “a good scholar who speaks English, Latin, Greek, and French, a thin-looking fellow of middle stature.” </div><div><br />Excerpt from <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781493004539/Irish-Boston-A-Lively-Look-at-Boston%27s-Colorful-Irish-Past-Second-Edition">Irish Boston: A Lively Look at Boston's Colorful Irish Past</a>, by <a href="https://irishmassachusetts.com/Michael_Quinlin.php">Michael Quinlin</a>, published by Globe Pequot Press. </div>irishboston.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318913501694126116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420730661983210784.post-12859977065008143632024-01-28T10:02:00.010-05:002024-03-12T16:31:48.508-04:00Harvard Refuses to Let Irish Woman Speak about British Atrocities in Ireland after the 1916 Uprising<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ9o3ICzargyBX0hDj4pTT_hMEaIgUX4PcJIf-cuXLgTYhohoR0B9G6AHHBKoZ7BgZ0S-lIocbzayg0MseVjgW_jNawmmWJ23_aa3Zh4Bvv3FCjm7z0_DR8J-s_mY03nLF93Q4Au405AMNudzZMlsb3EujE_3UUAHudna36dyPN6_umKD5DZrEbDRG59u_/s1200/Hanna%20Sheehy-Skeffington.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ9o3ICzargyBX0hDj4pTT_hMEaIgUX4PcJIf-cuXLgTYhohoR0B9G6AHHBKoZ7BgZ0S-lIocbzayg0MseVjgW_jNawmmWJ23_aa3Zh4Bvv3FCjm7z0_DR8J-s_mY03nLF93Q4Au405AMNudzZMlsb3EujE_3UUAHudna36dyPN6_umKD5DZrEbDRG59u_/w640-h334/Hanna%20Sheehy-Skeffington.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i data-reader-unique-id="7" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; max-width: 100%;"> Photo: National Museum of Ireland</i></div><div><i data-reader-unique-id="7" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 20px; max-width: 100%;"><br /></i></div>Irish activist <a href="https://www.dib.ie/biography/skeffington-johanna-hanna-sheehy-a8106">Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington</a> was denied a request to speak at Harvard University in January 1917, when she was in Boston to speak about "The Truth of the Irish Uprising."<br /><br />Mrs. Sheehy-Skeffington had already spoken at Faneuil Hall, where 2,000 people jammed into the famous hall to hear her talk about the execution of her husband, writer and pacifist Francis Skeffington, who was taken out and shot without trail in the wake of the Easter 1916 uprising in Dublin, and the ensuing British coverup. She was introduced at Faneuil Hall by Mayor <a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2022/11/bostons-mayor-of-poor-james-michael.html" target="_blank">James Michael Curley</a>.<br /><br />Learning of the success of the Faneuil Hall speech, Harvard then denied her access to its campus. <br /><br /><i>The Boston Globe</i> reported, "Harvard has refused to let Mrs Sheehy-Skeffington speak in a building under corporation control. This is a great compliment to the power of the Irish widow. When she tells her story of the way in which the British Government treated the Irish at the time of the Dublin revolt, her listeners are visibly affected. Passion has often been characteristic of champions of the Irish cause. Mrs Skeffington speaks very simply. Those who sit before her are conscious that she understates her case, that she holds herself back. Her message is the more powerful because of her evident restraint. The bare facts are such that they cry out with a penetration possessed by no human voice."<br /><br />The <i>Catholic Columbian</i> newspaper in Ohio was unsparing of Harvard's hypocrisy, writing, "Supposing that Harvard University would want a chapter of Truth from our times, (Mrs. Skeffington) applied for the use of one of its halls. This was, to the everlasting disgrace of this pro-British institution, denied her. <br /><br />"We hear much of explorations and investigations of the truth of facts coming from these halls of learning. As far as modern history goes, it is a lie to say that Harvard wants the truth. She wants nothing of the kind; she desires darkness and not light and has done small credit to the England she advocates in closing the mouth of a witness of undeniable facts. Harvard's cowardice is equalled only by her love of darkness. Let her no more speak of truth and light," wrote the Columbian.<br /><br />After the Easter Uprising, Sheehy-Skeffington's husband was arrested as a precautionary measure, and "without even a pretense at a court-martial, Captain Bowen-Coulthurst gave orders that Skeffington and a companion be shot. At the time, Bowen-Coulthurst gave as his reason, 'I am taking these men out to shoot them as it seems to me the best thing to do.' After the Dublin men had been shot the soldiers went in search of evidence with which to support the shooting," wrote the Globe.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9htcH4QHjWEJ0wiC7zqqgvkx6-6gPvHImNgHqrw_TGLD_C5ZDGlt6ZUXnMjt5iRsQWvs94v3FzUnbQwOERV66DI_9V3FZC1t21s_3IIQBwGa5_XmK8QWegTO_R167Q1R6DXvQPeFi9K7tazvpU2tIe-Mk-t7FEbkcSQSah3kNwnBtcv7PUa0Nvxff8vQc/s840/Mrs%20Skeffington%20and%20Owen.%20cropped.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="840" data-original-width="608" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9htcH4QHjWEJ0wiC7zqqgvkx6-6gPvHImNgHqrw_TGLD_C5ZDGlt6ZUXnMjt5iRsQWvs94v3FzUnbQwOERV66DI_9V3FZC1t21s_3IIQBwGa5_XmK8QWegTO_R167Q1R6DXvQPeFi9K7tazvpU2tIe-Mk-t7FEbkcSQSah3kNwnBtcv7PUa0Nvxff8vQc/w464-h640/Mrs%20Skeffington%20and%20Owen.%20cropped.jpg" width="464" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Photo: Library of Congress</i></div></i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>Traveling with her seven year old son Owen, Mrs. Sheehy-Skeffington had been denied a passport to visit America, because she would not comply with the British demand that 'you must not talk about the war or the conditions in Ireland,' wrote the Globe. She refused the demand, and instead managed to get passage on a steamer that took her to Boston. She expected to be arrested when she returned to Ireland, she said. <div><br /></div><div>In addition to Faneuil Hall, Mrs.Sheehy-Skeffington also met at Copley Plaza Hotel with her supporters from the region's Irish societies. Later, Mayor Curley made his automobile available to Mrs Skeffington and her son to tour around Boston and see places of historic interest, the Globe reported. </div><div><br /></div><div>Read more about '<a href="https://www.irishamerica.com/2016/02/boston-and-the-irish-rising/" target="_blank">Boston and the Irish Rising</a>' in <i>Irish America Magazine</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>-Research and story by Michael Quinlin.</i></div><div><br /></div><br /></div>irishboston.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318913501694126116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420730661983210784.post-43273332890201674902024-01-25T11:01:00.007-05:002024-02-17T12:36:55.159-05:00City of Quincy Unveils Robert Burns Statue in 1925 Honoring the Scottish Poet <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-vGc4gSZWOwtcKesCQSjqokx5878wf7yUeu6fK1Xe2F7RK6BZRZUi8Oc3HWSwoXhTp_dZlV6SSiRFFw30ISyGO7PUy9gnhV2iTeXeQeOu42WuS7X3AFuLWpzVNgP1AyT9L7HjPA-IhF7wXSlhW-w20sp8SCVuwdsHlWHuyFyF1Hqb5F72pBUgntk0VNm7/s1446/Burns%20Quincy%202.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1446" data-original-width="1084" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-vGc4gSZWOwtcKesCQSjqokx5878wf7yUeu6fK1Xe2F7RK6BZRZUi8Oc3HWSwoXhTp_dZlV6SSiRFFw30ISyGO7PUy9gnhV2iTeXeQeOu42WuS7X3AFuLWpzVNgP1AyT9L7HjPA-IhF7wXSlhW-w20sp8SCVuwdsHlWHuyFyF1Hqb5F72pBUgntk0VNm7/w480-h640/Burns%20Quincy%202.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Photo Courtesy of Michael Quinlin</i></div></i><div><br /></div>
Scotland’s famous poet Robert Burns, whose birthday is celebrated around the world on January 25, has a beautiful granite statue and park in his honor in the city of Quincy, Massachusetts. <div><br /></div><div>The 25-ton statue was designed by noted Quincy sculptor John Horrigan (1863-1939) and carved by his son Gerald Horrigan (1903-1995), and unveiled on November 28, 1925. The statue depicts Burns holding his hat in one hand and a book of poems in the other hand, with a sheaf of wheat by his side.</div><div><br /></div><div>Best known for composing the unofficial anthem to New Year's Eve, <a href="https://www.robertburns.org/works/236.shtml" target="_blank">Auld Lang Syne</a>, Burns was a prolific poet who wrote more than 300 poems, as well as various epistles and ballads. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Quincy had a vibrant Scottish community. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEdtDghb7KJ_iCNQy8KpSWKy9GGhRNKbEBngOiSsJsJ8puvsHGn8qJSvxaZqBlr1NN64CuDWT5irggsay1wWPGLkGZ_hWN0PvrBuOhyphenhypheneYS3QScy8X7jgqXC4qnkiQodecx_a2BLls9dOI8yR6zeIYerlXfm3yuKU7nLHRqxl8ECHGAn4rOKSzh8YPCNBEn/s1446/Burns%20Quincy%203.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1446" data-original-width="1084" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEdtDghb7KJ_iCNQy8KpSWKy9GGhRNKbEBngOiSsJsJ8puvsHGn8qJSvxaZqBlr1NN64CuDWT5irggsay1wWPGLkGZ_hWN0PvrBuOhyphenhypheneYS3QScy8X7jgqXC4qnkiQodecx_a2BLls9dOI8yR6zeIYerlXfm3yuKU7nLHRqxl8ECHGAn4rOKSzh8YPCNBEn/w480-h640/Burns%20Quincy%203.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Photo Courtesy of Michael Quinlin</i></div></i><div><br /></div><div>The noble statue stands at a small park at the intersection of Granite Street and Burgin Parkway, where it was moved from its original location and rededicated on October 24, 1971. The pedestal and base are made of Quincy granite, while the statue is made of Westerly grantite.</div><div><br /></div><div>Its original location was at the corner of School and Franklin Street in South Quincy at what was then called Daniel Baxter Triangle, where it was unveiled on a Saturday afternoon, November 28, 1925. </div><div><br /></div><div>Guest of honor that day was Colonel Walter Scott, a financial supporter of the project and Honorary Commissioner of the New York City Police Department. According to <i>The Boston Globe</i>, “Scott was met at the Neponset bridge by a squad of motorcycle officers and escorted … to the statue with his daughter, Mrs Edith Scott Magna.” </div><div><br /></div><div>Scott was greeted by Quincy Mayor Perley E. Barbour and hundreds of Quincy residents and city officials, and by representatives of Scottish groups from throughout New England. The statue was paid for by Clan MacGregor, a local group that initiated the project two decades earlier and presented to the City of Quincy by Neil A. Macdonald, president of the Robert Burns Memorial Association. </div><div><br /></div><div>The Clan MacGregor Glee Club sang a number of Scottish songs, and the Star Spangled Banner at the end of the program, while Mrs. Magna read one of her original poems at the ceremony. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvNOfuyXD77vkO0psVr5K1d_kXnPVoAwDSNMTcllKnpw8LHlAgHiqn-19Gm6lBedHMEo0O-VfPxhBwP2n2tZbQEUPVADIwdYo0MksoVtAoubHaOVg0YaXYt5dqDwYEu5WPtb1ujFgWfczADtQFHm2wzT9q7ApgOTIejy_TdXSL6GhZMv0DysiFDNpSNApE/s600/john%20Horrigan,%20sculptor,%201926.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="470" data-original-width="600" height="502" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvNOfuyXD77vkO0psVr5K1d_kXnPVoAwDSNMTcllKnpw8LHlAgHiqn-19Gm6lBedHMEo0O-VfPxhBwP2n2tZbQEUPVADIwdYo0MksoVtAoubHaOVg0YaXYt5dqDwYEu5WPtb1ujFgWfczADtQFHm2wzT9q7ApgOTIejy_TdXSL6GhZMv0DysiFDNpSNApE/w640-h502/john%20Horrigan,%20sculptor,%201926.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Sculptor John Horrigan, image courtesy of Digital Commonwealth</i></div><div><br /></div><div>John Horrigan and his son Gerald were respected sculptors in Quincy and indeed, throughout the country, and were most noted for their skills in carving monuments from granite. It was John who carved the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/nama/planyourvisit/titanic.htm" target="_blank">Titanic Memorial</a> in Washington DC, from a single piece of granite. He was also called into replace the head of the Myles Standish statue in Duxbury when it was destroyed by lighting in 1922. He also created the <a href="https://macivilwarmonuments.com/2020/05/03/holbrook/" target="_blank">Civil War Monument</a> in Holbrook, MA</div><div><br /></div><div>Gerald created a number of important monuments, including the World War I Memorial in Hull and Winthrop, and a number of memorials in <a href="https://www.quincyma.gov/departments/natural_resources/cemetery/about_our_cemeteries.php" target="_blank">Mt.Wollaston Cemetery</a>, where he is buried along with his parents and family. </div><div><br /></div><div>John and Gerald Horrigan are represented at the <a href="http://www.quincyquarrymuseum.org/virtual-museum.html" target="_blank">Quincy Quarry and Granite Workers Virtual Museum</a>; John’s drawing cabinet is there, along with a portrait of Gerald when he was a student at the Museum of Fine Arts School in Boston. Find out more <a href="http://www.quincyquarrymuseum.org/about-us.html" target="_blank">about</a> the Quincy Quarry and Granite Workers Museum. </div><div><br /></div><div>Read about <a href="https://www.mass.gov/doc/quincy-quarries-historic-site-brochure/download#:~:text=Quincy%20granite%20was%20used%20in,active%20quarry%20closed%20in%201963." target="_blank">Quincy Quarry Historic Site</a>, which is overseen by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (MDCR) and is part of the Blue Hills Reservation. </div><div><br /></div><div>Known as the City of Presidents, Quincy also is known for its <a href="https://discoverquincy.com/granite-shipbuilding-aviation/">granite, shipbuilding and aviation</a>. It has a long and storied history stretching back centuries, from the settlement of the <a href="https://massachusetttribe.org/" target="_blank">Massachusetts Tribe</a> to the founding in 1625 by European settlers. In 2025, Quincy marks its 400th anniversary. Read about the <a href="https://quincy400.com/" target="_blank">Quincy 400</a> initiate underway,</div><div><br /></div><div>For tourist information about Quincy, including its history, culture, cuisine, outdoors and year round events and festivities, visit <a href="https://discoverquincy.com/" target="_blank">Discover Quincy</a>.
</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Research + Text, Michael Quinlin.</i></div>irishboston.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318913501694126116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420730661983210784.post-60651806737074516412024-01-20T02:04:00.011-05:002024-02-17T12:37:21.284-05:00American Irish Historical Society was formed in Boston on January 20, 1897, to Dispel Myths about the Irish in America <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJjVkZIjf2cfZZxq6HUgZ3z65QQPpqquo-eenyOxJ8Q6p6vZD7ra2KTzmsUdgXvAwJLeKYNfmWGTDbIGGqSMs3z45PLfnf8WVFFS7kLOV6VXKxjAzq13h7xpDn9XSSQkfKOlHBuuO0KSfQHpO0iOkq6CVhMAEmEaoK1itoZGpNcWSChZQmRa4zGPXkc6pW/s1426/AIHS%20logo.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1426" data-original-width="1326" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJjVkZIjf2cfZZxq6HUgZ3z65QQPpqquo-eenyOxJ8Q6p6vZD7ra2KTzmsUdgXvAwJLeKYNfmWGTDbIGGqSMs3z45PLfnf8WVFFS7kLOV6VXKxjAzq13h7xpDn9XSSQkfKOlHBuuO0KSfQHpO0iOkq6CVhMAEmEaoK1itoZGpNcWSChZQmRa4zGPXkc6pW/w596-h640/AIHS%20logo.jpg" width="596" /></a></div><br /><p>On January 20, 1897, a group of 40 distinguished Irish-Americans met at the Old Revere House in Boston to officially launch the American Irish Historical Society. </p><div>Among the elected officers were Rear Admiral Richard W. Meade, newspaper editor Thomas Hamilton Murray; Theodore Roosevelt, who claimed Irish ancestry on his mother’s side; famed sculptor <a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2020/02/americas-greatest-sculptor-born-in.html" target="_blank">Augustus St. Gauden</a>s, who was born in Dublin to an Irish mother and French father; poet and writer James Jeffrey Roche, who wrote the biography of John Boyle O’Reilly; Thomas Lawlor of the publishing company Ginn and Company and Thomas Addis Emmett, a prominent New York attorney and part of an illustrious patriotic family. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFZ-eeuOQ8lBFcVEg3ExoPJGnCH_qiqwdZ9tZybkwddVhHr9ddrz9HUVYcytAOP3zJ8IBmu580dNCFXstbNZUe1DV9FtKXcJ6HuD4EJm_v8xPvsZlX5MoW6Gi8nR9r_Siknks2AL4p40ZFPbeAUoOSv4q5K5yjKwsIaAex9-wTN1gvLm2yxEurESRZHeSb/s1443/Thomas_J_Gargan__illustration__Boston_Post__Sept_27_1896.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1292" data-original-width="1443" height="574" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFZ-eeuOQ8lBFcVEg3ExoPJGnCH_qiqwdZ9tZybkwddVhHr9ddrz9HUVYcytAOP3zJ8IBmu580dNCFXstbNZUe1DV9FtKXcJ6HuD4EJm_v8xPvsZlX5MoW6Gi8nR9r_Siknks2AL4p40ZFPbeAUoOSv4q5K5yjKwsIaAex9-wTN1gvLm2yxEurESRZHeSb/w640-h574/Thomas_J_Gargan__illustration__Boston_Post__Sept_27_1896.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Thomas J. Gargan, a distinguished Boston orator and writer, presided at the first AIHS meeting.</div><div><br /></div><div>The group’s lofty mission was to “correct the erroneous, distorted and false views of history in relation to the Irish in America; to encourage and assist in the formation of local societies; and to promote and foster an honorable national spirit of patriotism.” </div><div><br /></div><div>Part of the impetus for the group coming together had to do with an ongoing prejudice that many Americans had about the Irish in America. Even as the Irish continued to succeed in politics,, business, culture, sports and the arts, a new round of anti-Irish, anti-Catholic attacks continued to disparage the Irish and their contributions to the United States. This assault was propelled by organizations such as the American Protective Association, and locally, a rabid publication called the <i>British American Citizen</i> newspaper, which screamed regular headlines about the Irish being “Ignorant, Narrow-minded and Rude.”</div><div><br /></div><div>Additionally, the AIHS was increasingly frustrated by an organization called the Scotch Irish Society, which asserted that the Irish contributions to the American Revolution were largely Protestant Ulster Scots from the north of Ireland, who had settled in Ireland but considered themselves Scottish. </div><div><br /></div><div>To counter these attacks, a group of New Englanders convened to create the history organization. Its prospectus stated, "Believing that the part taken in the settlement, foundation and upbuilding of these United States by the Irish race has never received proper recognition from historians, and inspired by love for the republic, a pride in our blood and forefathers, and a desire for historic truth, this society has met and organized to give a plain recital of facts to correct errors, to supply omissions, to allay passions, to shame prejudice and to labor for right and truth."
</div><div><br /></div><div>One of the early initiatives was to publicly and loudly dispel aspersions against the Irish, in both print and public forums, taking on many old-line Bostonians and New Englanders who insisted that the founding of the nation was strictly a Protestant affair. </div><div><br /></div><div>Also, AIHS made a point of attending a number of iconic American anniversaries, such as the Battle of Lexington and Concord commemorated each April in Massachusetts, and the military exercises at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania each year, as a way of publicizing the heroism of Revolutionary War leaders decidedly not Ulster Scots, such as General John Sullivan, whose family came from Kerry and Commodore John Barry from Wexford. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmBEDVFOM9J5XXLzFgZByfswfAZMirDOdnevpOBK-RfYZ_V3EIuOQqaiYL88gSnTFUKriLoUvJIr3bX-OU2pU7wz9Yem_RJSQMhZ5eHSh42-TXgK3smTMknkH38dx0H605akl8iiULeGzhgfdULR30q7mFdD68EK0Ny-UnTYn44cqUtKun0J1wZmzmmwqG/s1426/AIHS,%201910%20volume.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1426" data-original-width="704" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmBEDVFOM9J5XXLzFgZByfswfAZMirDOdnevpOBK-RfYZ_V3EIuOQqaiYL88gSnTFUKriLoUvJIr3bX-OU2pU7wz9Yem_RJSQMhZ5eHSh42-TXgK3smTMknkH38dx0H605akl8iiULeGzhgfdULR30q7mFdD68EK0Ny-UnTYn44cqUtKun0J1wZmzmmwqG/w316-h640/AIHS,%201910%20volume.jpg" width="316" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>In 1898, AIHS began publishing a hefty Journal that contained historical research and genealogical papers by Michael J. O'Brian, John C. Lenihan, Joseph Smith and other members of the group.</div><div><br /></div><div>Within a few years, the headquarters of AIHS shifted from Boston to New York City, according to John J. Appel in a scholarly articled entitled 'The New England Origins of the American Irish Historical Society,' published in the <i>New England Quarterly</i> in December 1960.</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>"After the election of John D. Crimmins of New York as fourth president of
the AIHS in 190l, its meetings, activities, and strength gravitated to New York. Why this shift took place then is not clear, unless the numerical strength of the Irish in New York City is regarded as sufficient explanation," Appel wrote. <br /><br />Throughout the 20th century, the AIHS continued as an important Irish-American organization. <div><br /></div><div>According to its own literature, the AIHS was "an international center of scholarship, education and cultural enrichment dedicated to promoting the significant, on-going contributions to the United States of America made by Irish immigrants and their descendants. The Society maintains an extensive collection of Irish and American Irish books, newspapers, archives and memorabilia in its landmark headquarters on Fifth Avenue. Its highly acclaimed literary journal, <i>The Recorder</i>, chronicles the surging creativity of Irish writers on both sides of the Atlantic. The center sponsors public programs to explore current issues and celebrates the renaissance in Irish culture from its weekly lectures, visual art exhibits and concerts,"<div><div><br /></div><div>But in recent years, the AIHS has had a series of organizational tremors, due to shifting board members, misplaced priorities and a lack of clarity about the group's mission. </div><div><br /></div><div>Just recently, those issues were resolved, and in November 2023, AIHS announced that Dr. Elizabeth Stack, has accepted an offer to become the new executive director of AIHS, and would begin on February 1, 2024. Dr.Stack, a native of County Kerry, was formerly executive director at the Irish American Heritage Museum in Albany, New York.</div></div></div><div><br /></div><div>The organization's many proponents, advocates and members are confident the AIHS is back on solid footing and will continue to represent the Irish-American community in a manner envisioned by the original founders back in Boston. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>-Research + Text, Michael Quinlin</i></div>irishboston.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318913501694126116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420730661983210784.post-33285757435433421312024-01-16T09:38:00.026-05:002024-01-16T17:00:28.939-05:00Northeastern University Opens New Exhibit, "Images of Irish and Black in Boston: The Development of Stereotypes," in January 1984<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeUra9urN5QL477iuEu-YxoHxREhiA9e9nvEsBmjsN_cFHRvLhsOiduZ-07-McpQTPC-CcofFKamLb1KKnxfenFx5e7qA1vmFqm5Ujlopf6tPTqlSwQZ9yRago4y4LZWA1ScRNSklGfsD5jg7W7jsCn_5-hH-LyPTGVs3PIDPGWQvgNqDe8aeu5nIJmCay/s1426/irish%20+%20Black%20exhibit%20jan%2015%201984.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1426" data-original-width="1140" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeUra9urN5QL477iuEu-YxoHxREhiA9e9nvEsBmjsN_cFHRvLhsOiduZ-07-McpQTPC-CcofFKamLb1KKnxfenFx5e7qA1vmFqm5Ujlopf6tPTqlSwQZ9yRago4y4LZWA1ScRNSklGfsD5jg7W7jsCn_5-hH-LyPTGVs3PIDPGWQvgNqDe8aeu5nIJmCay/w512-h640/irish%20+%20Black%20exhibit%20jan%2015%201984.jpg" width="512" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dancers Dawn Smalls and Keelin Connolly, January 15, 1984. Boston Globe photo.</span></i></div><p></p>Forty years ago this week, on January 15, 1984, a new exhibit entitled "Images of Irish and Black in Boston: The Development of Stereotypes," opened at the Northeastern University Gallery. <div><br /></div><div>Partnered by Northeastern’s Irish Studies Program and the African American Master Artists-ln-Residency Program, the exhibit revealed how stereotypes depicting Irish and Blacks through history were strikingly similar, especially in the hands of artists such as Thomas Nast, a 19th century cartoonist know for his virulent portrayals of Irish immigrants and American Blacks. </div><div><br /></div><div>The event was attended by several dozen guests and included remarks by Black artist Dana Chandler of Northeastern’s African American Master Artists-ln-Residency Program, and scholar Ruth-Ann Harris, director of the university's Irish Studies program. </div><div><br /></div><div>Chandler said the exhibit would help ‘to point out that there is a rivalry that has been going for a long time. Neither the Irish nor the blacks started it. We were pitted against each other by the Yankees," according to the <i>Boston Globe</i> story on January 16, 1984 by reporter Joanne Ball. </div><div><br /></div><div>The event also featured live traditional music from Irish fiddlers Seamus Connolly and Larry Reynolds and flutist Michael Quinlin. Connolly’s daughter Keelin gave an impromptu demonstration of Irish step dancing and was joined by Dawn Smalls of Boston. </div><div><br /></div><div>Boston Mayor Ray Flynn issued a proclamation on January 15, 1984 entitled, "Black and Irish Shared Experience Week."<br /><br /></div><div>According to Northeastern University, “the <a href="https://blackactivism.library.northeastern.edu/programs/" target="_blank">African American Master Artists-in-Residency Program</a> (AAMARP) was established in 1977, with Chandler as its director. AAMARP’s mission was to provide awareness of the talent of African American artists and also those from other ethnicities.” Chandler was also a professor of art and art history at <a href="https://beatleyweb.simmons.edu/collectionguides/ManuscriptsCollection/MS236.html" target="_blank">Simmons College</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>Northeaster’s Irish Studies Program was co-founded by Dr. Ruth Ann Harris. It held seminars on Irish topics and published a series of working papers by Irish academics. Harris co-edited <a href="https://shop.americanancestors.org/collections/member-discounted-items/products/the-search-for-missing-friends-irish-immigrant-advertisements-placed-in-the-boston-pilot-volume-i-1831-1850?pass-through=true" target="_blank">T<i>he Search for Missing Friends: Irish Immigrant Advertisements Placed in The Boston Pilot</i></a>, an eight-volume published by <a href="https://www.americanancestors.org">NEHGS</a>. Later, Dr. Harris moved to <a href="https://www.bc.edu/content/bc-web/schools/mcas/sites/irish.html" target="_blank">Boston College</a> as professor of History and Irish Studies until her death in 2012.</div>irishboston.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318913501694126116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420730661983210784.post-37654729849399869102024-01-09T11:05:00.004-05:002024-01-09T11:50:26.759-05:00President-Elect John F. Kennedy Gives his Famous 'City on a Hill' Speech at the Massachusetts State House on January 9, 1961<p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYRvlQSVA_Bdo3uk3si3DHc-T55lGCPR-lXqF5S54b8GrpBTLo92wvm8Tt5BCyfELXN1_XwrdY1eSCqpjBwO4yHjPqgbH3OamltdCkRIXmCWSnPQYDmsxTgRKWRMA8-lqzuQTK08KhMNN_6lZoOR2Du05IJMnFn4aPljuDnxQ0e06vJqYqi5jvXkB9aX4t/s960/JFK%20Leglisture%20Jauary%209,%201961.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYRvlQSVA_Bdo3uk3si3DHc-T55lGCPR-lXqF5S54b8GrpBTLo92wvm8Tt5BCyfELXN1_XwrdY1eSCqpjBwO4yHjPqgbH3OamltdCkRIXmCWSnPQYDmsxTgRKWRMA8-lqzuQTK08KhMNN_6lZoOR2Du05IJMnFn4aPljuDnxQ0e06vJqYqi5jvXkB9aX4t/w640-h480/JFK%20Leglisture%20Jauary%209,%201961.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Image Courtesy of JFK Librar</i>y</div><span face="lato, "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span>On January 9, 1961, President-Elect John F. Kennedy Delivered his now-famous "City on a Hill" speech at the Massachusetts State House before a joint session of the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. <p></p><div>Kennedy was welcomed to the Chamber by Governor John A. Volpe and Senate President John E. Powers of South Boston. </div><div><br /></div><div>"Fully 1,000 people crammed the House Chamber," reported The Boston Globe, and "Capitol Police estimated that some 5,000 more surrounded the State House in bitter cold to get a fleeting look at the next president."</div><div><br /></div><div>The event was carried live by all three Boston television stations, and a full pool of radio and print reporters. </div><div><br /></div><div>During his nine-minute speech, Kennedy addressed the audience as a proud native son, mindful of his family's deep connection to the Commonwealth.</div><br />"I have welcomed this opportunity to address this historic body, and, through you, the people of Massachusetts to whom I am so deeply indebted for a lifetime of friendship and trust. For fourteen years I have placed my confidence in the citizens of Massachusetts--and they have generously responded by placing their confidence in me. <br /><br />"Now, on the Friday after next, I am to assume new and broader responsibilities. But I am not here to bid farewell to Massachusetts....this has been my home; and, God willing, wherever I serve this shall remain my home. It was here my grandparents were born--it is here I hope my grandchildren will be born."<br /><br /><br /><br />And Kennedy was mindful of Massachusetts' place in history, citing John Winthrop's perspective when the Puritans first arrived in Boston in 1630. <br /><br />"I have been guided by the standard John Winthrop set before his shipmates on the flagship Arbella three hundred and thirty-one years ago, as they, too, faced the task of building a new government on a perilous frontier. <br /><br />"We must always consider," he said, "that we shall be as a city upon a hill--the eyes of all people are upon us." <div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX4Ly4M7h8ceOqFPv5TMMBCVPXFiojpXcgSxR1zjT-pSVS4pPWsYJlJqQgdkyONXXgbGvNPk0raui4lfRdOButDdrnjj52jbtp7C32FCKhlBnV8pkXPRzYLnFrJw4NkBZ_aeW91Krm96eRaItU76ruZERG24Ulj5b8nS1FNmhaSapSt5An4Zv_pGdujv3F/s464/JFK%20City%20on%20a%20Hill_state%20house.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="308" data-original-width="464" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX4Ly4M7h8ceOqFPv5TMMBCVPXFiojpXcgSxR1zjT-pSVS4pPWsYJlJqQgdkyONXXgbGvNPk0raui4lfRdOButDdrnjj52jbtp7C32FCKhlBnV8pkXPRzYLnFrJw4NkBZ_aeW91Krm96eRaItU76ruZERG24Ulj5b8nS1FNmhaSapSt5An4Zv_pGdujv3F/w640-h424/JFK%20City%20on%20a%20Hill_state%20house.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Plaque at the Massachusetts State House</i></div></i><br />"The enduring qualities of Massachusetts--the common threads woven by the Pilgrim and the Puritan, the fisherman and the farmer, the Yankee and the immigrant--will not be and could not be forgotten in this nation's executive mansion. They are an indelible part of my life, my convictions, my view of the past, and my hopes for the future."<div><br /></div><div>In this speech, Kennedy uttered his now-famous phrase, "Of those to whom much is given, much is required."</div><div><br /></div><div>Kennedy said history will measure elected leaders based on four qualities: courage, judgement, integrity and dedication.<br /><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/historic-speeches/the-city-upon-a-hill-speech" target="_blank">Read the full speech here</a>. <br /><div><br /><div>Massachusetts' leading officials, largely an Irish-American contingent, were in attendance, including Lt. Governor Edward F. McLaughlin, Secretary of State Joseph D. Ward, Attorney General Edward J. McCormack, Jr., State Auditor Thomas J.Buckley, State Treasurer-elect John T. Driscoll, MDC Commissioner Robert F. Murphy and House Speaker John F. Thompson.</div><div><br /></div><div>Read more about JFK's historic speech at <a href="https://www.massmoments.org/moment-details/jfks-farewell-to-massachusetts-legislature.html" target="_blank">MassMoments</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>Learn more about President Kennedy by visiting the <a href="https://www.jfklibrary.org/" target="_blank">JFK Presidential Library</a> in Boston, the <a href="https://jfkhyannismuseum.org/" target="_blank">JFK Museum</a> in Hyannis, and the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/jofi/index.htm" target="_blank">JFK Birthplace</a> in Brookline. </div><div> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwAZGHyEyr84muWNRCVYIuUt-Au2nArV5DFi_ZlPTlxXvl8RfZde8VH89AY6fWCk99dCnL2oCYAEQlQrifNdkM6fgPlUrapMN5FdJTP7B-ba0RTfpAB00WDmrg1wdF5-ehJsWfa40HhsNVu5pdtekKGFq3bBgjWXz_QD0ZG5rBYXxUIRYy5MikX14S3ukZ/s1200/Kennedy%20Poster_March%2010,%202022.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwAZGHyEyr84muWNRCVYIuUt-Au2nArV5DFi_ZlPTlxXvl8RfZde8VH89AY6fWCk99dCnL2oCYAEQlQrifNdkM6fgPlUrapMN5FdJTP7B-ba0RTfpAB00WDmrg1wdF5-ehJsWfa40HhsNVu5pdtekKGFq3bBgjWXz_QD0ZG5rBYXxUIRYy5MikX14S3ukZ/w640-h334/Kennedy%20Poster_March%2010,%202022.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Here are more <a href="https://irishmassachusetts.blogspot.com/2022/03/massachusetts-is-kennedy-country-with.html" target="_blank">Kennedy landmarks throughout Massachusetts</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Let more about Massachusetts' Irish community at <a href="http://IrishMassachusetts.com">IrishMassachusetts.com</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div>irishboston.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318913501694126116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420730661983210784.post-81276589456371347632024-01-06T00:00:00.002-05:002024-02-17T12:37:51.094-05:00Patrick A. Collins from Cork Becomes Boston's Second Irish-Born Mayor in January 1902<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK-jIYL4kllPmPLfBG14m4pf1rAAA96iJrm-ewgdhyLIOMrJ49q9ujlkj8hOC1UZ-hkHvBfG0WPfaTRIyGb8zLaW_DS-IVjXjflZMccWwAgipzIfqjWbft8KjJ-t0hdIdVOrHwKWpdWlRLYRCnt7zNX30aZpe7XX7u-q99VCsKseY25iT8pEKSArMvNeop/s2451/PatrickCollins_headshot.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2451" data-original-width="1717" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK-jIYL4kllPmPLfBG14m4pf1rAAA96iJrm-ewgdhyLIOMrJ49q9ujlkj8hOC1UZ-hkHvBfG0WPfaTRIyGb8zLaW_DS-IVjXjflZMccWwAgipzIfqjWbft8KjJ-t0hdIdVOrHwKWpdWlRLYRCnt7zNX30aZpe7XX7u-q99VCsKseY25iT8pEKSArMvNeop/w448-h640/PatrickCollins_headshot.png" width="448" /></a></div><br />Patrick A. Collins, the second Irish-born Mayor of Boston, was inaugurated on January 6, 1902, at Boston City Hall. He beat incumbent Mayor Thomas N. Hart in what the Boston Post described as "the largest vote ever cast for mayor in Boston."Collins, a resident of South Boston, received 52,046 votes to Hart's 33,076, winning by a plurality of 18,970 votes. In an earlier contest in 1899 when the two men faced off, Hart beat Collins by 2,281 votes, according to the Post.<br /><br />Monsignor Denis O'Callaghan of St. Augustine's Church in South Boston, led the prayer during Collins' swearing-in ceremonies. <br /><br />In his inaugural address, Collins focused on was the city's financial condition and the public debt. He talked about heavy traffic and promised to build a new avenue "in the Fort Point Channel to the northern terminals and docks." He promised improvements to Boston Harbor, with encouragement from Congress from Washington, "to float at all stages of the tide the largest vessels engaged in the commerce of the world."<br /><br />After the address, Mayor Collins "was overwhelmed with congratulations and good wishes for an hour. Heads of the city departments and private citizens by the hundreds trooped into the mayor's office to shake his honor's hand," wrote The Boston Globe.<br /><br />Afterwards, Collins and the City of Boston Aldermen went to dinner at the nearby <a href="https://www.omnihotels.com/hotels/boston-parker-house?utm_source=GMBlisting&utm_medium=organic">Parker House</a> at the top of School Street.<br /><br />A local paper reported that Mayor Collins had initiated an 'open door' policy, like his predecessor Mayor Hart, allowing "citizens who wish to consult the mayor on buniness to approach him without the intermediary of messengers." <br /><br />Born in 1844 in Ballinafauna, a townland outside of Fermoy, Cork, Collins came to Boston in March 1848, with his widowed mother, part of the mass exodus from Ireland due to the <a href="http://www.boston.com/famine/irishmore2.stm">Irish Famine</a>. They settled in Chelsea, where the anti-Irish Know Nothing movement was fully blown in the 1850s. Patrick got a job as an office boy with <a href="http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aah/morris-robert-sr-1823-1882">Robert Morris</a>, an African-American lawyer, and later become a lawyer himself. He entered into an upholstery apprenticeship, where he eventually became foreman. All the while he was attending classes at Harvard University while studying at the <a href="http://www.bpl.org/">Boston Public Library</a> evenings. <br /><br />Collins made his first foray into American politics when he became a state representative from South Boston in 1868-69, and a state senator in 1870-71. He became the first Irish Catholic from Massachusetts elected as a <a href="http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000641">US Congressman</a> (1883-85). He campaigned for <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/grovercleveland22">President Grover Cleveland</a> and was appointed as Consul General in London from 1893-97. <div><div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: repeat white; color: #333333; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: repeat white; color: #333333; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQuFo3o7jON3pZ48Wh7Noxz7DCT9LBhTjIYSuL8NYq0vVTfOBid4TyCEd1Z6AjpMd0fgnbdDviWXWn9wQYSm1swpPAuudggjyH43zKcoDt_kZOdqfqj1-sz1kidGAAgwUr3HvYy52m52FlV3VF7CwL8oFrvh_D-B4f-R0UI2NGwtuYKpsPV85tr6h81GaA/s1600/Patrick%20Collins_memorial_Massport.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1394" data-original-width="1600" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQuFo3o7jON3pZ48Wh7Noxz7DCT9LBhTjIYSuL8NYq0vVTfOBid4TyCEd1Z6AjpMd0fgnbdDviWXWn9wQYSm1swpPAuudggjyH43zKcoDt_kZOdqfqj1-sz1kidGAAgwUr3HvYy52m52FlV3VF7CwL8oFrvh_D-B4f-R0UI2NGwtuYKpsPV85tr6h81GaA/s320/Patrick%20Collins_memorial_Massport.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div>A <a href="http://www.irishheritagetrail.com/boston/loc_16.php">monument to Patrick A. Collins</a> is located on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston's Back Bay and is part of the <a href="http://www.irishheritagetrail.com/">Boston Irish Heritage Trail</a>. <br /><br />The <a href="https://archives.boston.gov/repositories/2/archival_objects/102393">City of Boston Archives</a> has papers relating to the Collins Administration at City Hall.</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i>Research + Text, Michael Quinlin</i></div><div><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: repeat white; color: #333333; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div></div>irishboston.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318913501694126116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420730661983210784.post-50241764709176684692024-01-02T23:59:00.003-05:002024-01-03T08:42:37.082-05:00South Boston's Ray Flynn Became Mayor of Boston on January 2, 1984<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMce_LXbxhdSEok7YVYYmHa-vJgkKZIk7zo05xWFgH7aUf9-ATG0SsHK1Vy5R9ERlPo8vBSaj2TfzBY9agI59CMbGaISwGZUYvw9emiDPTGUJg6ZzBVt6tLnP3veqExDBHf8U68en8DEYXDvZc7BOamngeD73oBZC6SSwvWdjYU71BtIsoAr8jkHH3LqOG/s1440/Ray%20Flynn,%20mayor%20waving.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="848" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMce_LXbxhdSEok7YVYYmHa-vJgkKZIk7zo05xWFgH7aUf9-ATG0SsHK1Vy5R9ERlPo8vBSaj2TfzBY9agI59CMbGaISwGZUYvw9emiDPTGUJg6ZzBVt6tLnP3veqExDBHf8U68en8DEYXDvZc7BOamngeD73oBZC6SSwvWdjYU71BtIsoAr8jkHH3LqOG/w376-h640/Ray%20Flynn,%20mayor%20waving.jpg" width="376" /></a></div><br /><div><br />On January 2, 1984, <a href="https://irishboston.org/profile_RayFlynn.php" target="_blank">Raymond L. Flynn</a> was sworn in as the 46th Mayor of the City of Boston. He succeeded <a href="https://irishboston.org/profile_kevin_white.php" target="_blank">Kevin H. White</a>, who decided not to run for another term, having already served four consecutive terms. <br /><br />Flynn told reporters that when he sat down to write his inaugural speech, the first words that came to mind were, 'you count.' <br /><br />"I immediately wrote them down right away and underlined them," Flynn said. "Those are the words I want people to remember from my speech."<br /><br />Flynn was officially sworn into the office at the Wang Center before 3,500 people, the largest inaugural gathering for a mayor in the city's history. Among the guests at the inauguration was his mayoral opponent, <a href="https://www.boston.gov/news/black-history-boston-mel-king" target="_blank">Mel King</a>, a former state representative who was the first Black to make it to the finals in the mayoral race. Flynn greeted and thanked Mel from the podium. </div><div><br /></div><div>In his speech, Flynn said, "This is a time to break down the walls of bigotry and build a new foundation of racial harmony. Boston has for too long been a house divided against itself."</div><div><br />Reporter Ed Quill of <i>The Boston Globe</i> described Flynn as "the son of a longshoreman and a cleaning woman who once worked in the city's downtown business buildings...a former football star at South Boston High School and basketball star at Providence College."</div><div><br /></div><div>Flynn and his family, including his wife Cathy and their five children, along with Flynn's mother Lillian, began the day by attending mass at the Don Bosco Chapel on Tremont Street. </div><div><br /></div><div>Learn more about Mayor Flynn's Administration by visiting the <a href="https://archives.boston.gov/repositories/2/resources/52" target="_blank">Boston City Archives</a>. </div>irishboston.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318913501694126116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420730661983210784.post-75108942898902446762024-01-02T02:53:00.003-05:002024-01-02T02:57:34.235-05:00On January 2, 1870, John Boyle O'Reilly First Arrived in Boston, Where He Spent the Rest of His Life Defending the Downtrodden<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1TaDLCvyLqlhHDzhI23ll9ctk-1X120FaH2lXfJbrWrA-dBUBLycxgXOxI4Xbtfehijo1UGKT_CAxh3iV4hBI6ERQaoeXDxaIzroO4i4zMkFDCz3Ha4BBXlIaWBj_-sKMbd8ocb5DDPqFCr69i5EDvuEIq832Ibgj4AxCS15IOkGymu0DSGNXURJp7bGt/s2550/JBOReilly.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1700" data-original-width="2550" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1TaDLCvyLqlhHDzhI23ll9ctk-1X120FaH2lXfJbrWrA-dBUBLycxgXOxI4Xbtfehijo1UGKT_CAxh3iV4hBI6ERQaoeXDxaIzroO4i4zMkFDCz3Ha4BBXlIaWBj_-sKMbd8ocb5DDPqFCr69i5EDvuEIq832Ibgj4AxCS15IOkGymu0DSGNXURJp7bGt/w640-h426/JBOReilly.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Irish immigrant and fugitive John Boyle O'Reilly first arrived in Boston on January 2, 1870. He never left. For the final two decades of his life, he became one of the city's leading defenders of the downtrodden, while advocating ceaselessly for liberty, freedom and justice that he equated with American ideals. <br /><br />His road to Boston as a final destination was perilous. Born in 1844 in County Meath, Ireland, he was an infant when the infamous Irish Famine devastated Ireland, killing about one million people and sending another two million refugees into exile. <br /><br />As a young man, O'Reilly joined the British Army, "with the object of overthrowing the British monarchy,' wrote his biographer Jeffrey Roche, but he was discovered and charged with treason against the British Crown. <br /><br />He was sentenced to life imprisonment in an Australian penal colony, along with 62 other political prisoners, aboard the Hougoumont and taken to the convict prison in Freemantle, Western Australia. He spent over a year there before making a daring escape aboard a New Bedford whaler, Gazelle, in 1869, a feat that helped shape his legend by the time he landed in America. <br /><br />When he finally reached America, he landed first in Philadelphia in November 1869, and shortly thereafter went up to New York. We was received with open arms in both cities, but he decided to go to Boston with hopes of continuing his work on behalf of Ireland while also continuing his vocation as a poet and writer. <br /><br />When he arrived in Boston in 1870, he was infatuated by the possibilities of democracy and liberty, and eager to make a difference after witnessing first hand the injustice of the world. He was quickly befriended by other like-minded Irish living in Boston, including poet Dr. Robert Dwyer Joyce, publisher Patrick Donahoe, whose weekly newspaper The Pilot was the leading Irish and Catholic voice in the country. <br /><br />And he met Patrick A. Collins, who was born in the same year as O'Reilly and who had moved to Boston in 1848 with his widowed mother. Collins had experienced a similarly traumatic early life when he other Irish Catholics were physically attacked by rabid anti-Catholic Know Nothings in Chelsea, MA when he was 10 years old. O'Reilly and Collins formed a deep friendship and alliance and worked together on numerous causes on behalf of Ireland.<br /><br />O'Reilly spent the next twenty years of his life in Boston, living in Charlestown with his wife Mary Murphy and four daughters. Right up onto his death on September 10, 1890, O'Reilly continued to speak out on behalf of Irish, Blacks, Native Americans, Jews, Chinese and other beleaguered groups trying to make their way in America.<br /><br />Read more <a href="https://irishboston.org/JBOReilly.pdf">about O'Reilly</a>, and visit his memorial in Boston's Fens at the top of Boylston Street. The <a href="http://www.irishheritagetrail.com/boston/loc_19.php">O'Reilly memorial</a> is part of the city's <a href="http://www.irishheritagetrail.com/boston/">Irish Heritage Trail</a>. <br /><br />irishboston.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318913501694126116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420730661983210784.post-88469004234737201532023-12-31T20:19:00.005-05:002024-01-01T02:11:35.444-05:00Massachusetts Civil War Centennial Commission 1961 Report Details Formation of the Irish Ninth Regiment<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-xoNEmwNXmmvnfaFWzONerO81-T2ysuQTjOUwFHe19iFbU_K96xSvssYa19N8ELeAYE1ulJP39lXJT3L1ZSTvq1Xoo7Fg_TNMLPyPZCEBz4N0J6UDvhEGqn2neE3S1lS7wcIxOyfz_YQU1PI9TabdglDHPPKuSeuZiuZD2o2tng_bTNx2hOJt-O3vJ2V6/s1080/Civil%20War%20Commission%201961.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-xoNEmwNXmmvnfaFWzONerO81-T2ysuQTjOUwFHe19iFbU_K96xSvssYa19N8ELeAYE1ulJP39lXJT3L1ZSTvq1Xoo7Fg_TNMLPyPZCEBz4N0J6UDvhEGqn2neE3S1lS7wcIxOyfz_YQU1PI9TabdglDHPPKuSeuZiuZD2o2tng_bTNx2hOJt-O3vJ2V6/w640-h640/Civil%20War%20Commission%201961.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>On December 29, 1961, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts released its Report of the Civil
War Centennial Commission. This was the third annual report since the commission was created in 1958.
The 28-page document (Senate No 527) recapped a variety of activities undertaken by the Commission for the 1961 calendar year, including various national, regional and local meetings, educational materials and reenactments that took place. Subcommittees reporting on their work included education, publicity and planning. <div><br /></div><div>Among the activities planned for 1962 was a marking of the Trent Affair, which nearly brought Britain into the civil war; and the Emancipation Proclamation in September 1962.<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Source Sans Pro, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(85, 85, 85);"> </span></span>A full century earlier, on September 22, 1862, President Lincoln issued a <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/emancipation-proclamation#:~:text=That%20changed%20on%20September%2022,1863%2C%20would%20be%20declared%20free." target="_blank">Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation</a>, stating that enslaved people in those states or parts of states still in rebellion as of January 1, 1863, would be declared free.</div><div><br /></div><div>In 1963, plans were discussed to honor the 9th Irish Regiment during St. Patrick’s Day season in March, and also the Massachusetts 54th Regiment, which left Boston for the war in May 1863. </div><div><br /></div><div>An interesting discussion of the Irish Ninth provides insight into how the regiment evolved from the Irish-American militia known as the Columbians, and before that the Columbian Artillery. </div><div><br /></div><div> The Columbian Artillery dated its organization back to 1798 and was mainly comprised of local men living in the North End of Boston, where Its armory was located. </div><div><br /></div><div>“At one time it was considered to be one of the finest companies in the State militia. But by 1850, the company became both militarily and financially lax,” according to the report.
By then, many Irish families had settled in the North End, including men like Patrick Donahoe, founder of the Boston Pilot, and Thomas Cass, a schoolteacher and businessman. </div><div><br /></div><div>“Irish young men were invited to join the Columbian Artillery, and before long, Irish Catholics composed the majority of the membership. The company began to flourish again and to take part proudly in drills and parades, wearing full dress uniforms and tall bearskin hats. Its officers were Irish-American business and professional men of that day.“ </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6wAGCABofH8KBM025JdDyHqrFfygZ9WY6x3cqX0yfEwxz5N16IECgpL6rBcCCEmvtqQMXkzbM5n8pEMw2ZgLEZ38XuYs8Qt9QfkVs-hoMfp2dLYja4V-imja5T4FwZY7LGnksUvjueMSlTqaEkcsVwWhisv5t9ButubKYdxmAYPvL1kGhlMHrdfVHtHKS/s264/Thomas%20Cass_lightened-full%20portrait.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="264" data-original-width="191" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6wAGCABofH8KBM025JdDyHqrFfygZ9WY6x3cqX0yfEwxz5N16IECgpL6rBcCCEmvtqQMXkzbM5n8pEMw2ZgLEZ38XuYs8Qt9QfkVs-hoMfp2dLYja4V-imja5T4FwZY7LGnksUvjueMSlTqaEkcsVwWhisv5t9ButubKYdxmAYPvL1kGhlMHrdfVHtHKS/w463-h640/Thomas%20Cass_lightened-full%20portrait.png" width="463" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> Captain Thomas Cass became the commander in 1854, and under his leadership the Columbians expanded with newly arrived young Irishmen and became a “well-drilled, well-disciplined, patriotic militia company. They were ready on any occasion to show their eagerness to fight for their adopted or native country,” the report states. </div><div><br /></div><div> Then in January 1855, at the height of the Know Nothing movement in Massachusetts, Governor Henry J. Gardner announced in his inaugural address his plan “to disband all military companies composed of persons of foreign birth.” It was just another way for certain nativist Bostonians to thwart the progress of the Irish community during this decade. </div><div><br /></div><div>The Columbia Artillery was forced to disband, but undeterred, Cass then set up a civic organization called the Columbian Association, ‘for literary and military purposes,’ thus leaving the door open for the group to stay together and to one day make a contribution to their Commonwealth. </div><div><br /></div><div>Their opportunity came on April 15, 1861, when Governor John A. Andrew issued Special Order No. 14, calling for troops to muster “in uniform on Boston Common forthwith...” to help defend the Union.
Colonel Cass immediately offered to form an Irish regiment, but first had to had to get permission of Governor Andrew because of the previous 1855 law that forbade men of foreign birth to fight for their adopted country. </div><div><br /></div><div> “Governor Andrew issued the authority forthwith, and the recruiting began,” writes the report. “The Columbians enlisted en masse, Joined by young Irishmen from Salem, Milford, Marlboro, and Stoughton. They were designated the Ninth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, commonly called the Irish Ninth, one of the very few three year regiments. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwpWIGD0aZ9SVj2LWZFnhmgi_LjhILsvb2DTfEUyRznicvlLDp4foi1salLr4hu1R2Mwt9Y0TdlLURfDMbRl6bdleNEdylgc1ajWtv23DnI31s6jOK8lTP4w2Q3l73Jx0aq1YJJMF9kCaQ03dxU3XeEbt6J9F8r_1duAvqIivr1hPdcpdwr_C6GcJioT6e/s318/9th%20Regiment%20Flag_lightened.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="318" height="588" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwpWIGD0aZ9SVj2LWZFnhmgi_LjhILsvb2DTfEUyRznicvlLDp4foi1salLr4hu1R2Mwt9Y0TdlLURfDMbRl6bdleNEdylgc1ajWtv23DnI31s6jOK8lTP4w2Q3l73Jx0aq1YJJMF9kCaQ03dxU3XeEbt6J9F8r_1duAvqIivr1hPdcpdwr_C6GcJioT6e/w640-h588/9th%20Regiment%20Flag_lightened.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Courtesy MA State House, Hall of Flags</i></div><div><br /></div><div>“The 9th Massachusetts Regiment carried a green flag into battle along with the American and State flags. The unit was attached to the famous Fifth Corps, the mainstay of the Army of the Potomac, and spent the entire three years at the front, enduring the danger, the labor, the sickness, the loneliness, and all the other hardships of this bloodiest of wars.“ </div><div><br /></div><div> And still, the Irish regiment face discrimination and prejudice during the war, the reported noted. “In 1861, President Lincoln was sought out by many petitioners and complainers, and most of them gained his attention. One of these complainants was an Army officer who told the President that the Irishmen of his regiment gave him more trouble than any other soldiers.
Lincoln’s reply was, “Yes, and our enemies, the rebels, have the same complaint.” </div><div><br /></div><div> The 1961 report concluded, “The Commission believes that the plans and programs for the coming year are of utmost importance in bringing to the Common- wealth the prestige that Massachusetts has always had in upholding the principles of democratic government and paying homage to the sacrifices made by Massachusetts citizens in the defense of those principles.” </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLnywG_KZRv26K12n1FXYYFObbBKFYI9_dCPUavDQNoLXHCHqpfxwZ3v3vKXbZd_pZjwgkK-ZoohAzky8hyphenhyphenLbyJ4T9HYAF5DVhA-fWq9znh6FbKpeo_k4qMP3L-KUTEmZxN3m2XGWHsM8akJV1T5cJqwQtBR4XbKFsDZeSsDjUAV6sIinHOh9o_sYLXUqw/s1445/Thomas%20Cass-lighted-quinlin.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1445" data-original-width="967" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLnywG_KZRv26K12n1FXYYFObbBKFYI9_dCPUavDQNoLXHCHqpfxwZ3v3vKXbZd_pZjwgkK-ZoohAzky8hyphenhyphenLbyJ4T9HYAF5DVhA-fWq9znh6FbKpeo_k4qMP3L-KUTEmZxN3m2XGWHsM8akJV1T5cJqwQtBR4XbKFsDZeSsDjUAV6sIinHOh9o_sYLXUqw/w428-h640/Thomas%20Cass-lighted-quinlin.jpg" width="428" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div> Learn more <a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2022/07/thomas-cass-of-massachusetts-irish-9th.html" target="_blank">about Thomas Cass</a> here, and visit the <a href="http://www.irishheritagetrail.com/boston/loc_13.php" target="_blank">Cass statue</a> in the Boston Public Garden, part of the city’s <a href="http://www.irishheritagetrail.com" target="_blank">Irish Heritage Trail</a>.
</div>irishboston.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318913501694126116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420730661983210784.post-64382031112733824752023-12-30T19:30:00.012-05:002023-12-31T16:54:13.142-05:00Thomas Valentine Sullivan, Founder of the Boston YMCA in 1851<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc5TArsNtDkz8YWHstDMHSvnI9t-xWaQ6byejAytPgSmEuHoKw1Yp_Obw5cVF4JFb5TrhwpNlEtatiOZHQg8Whie4hx4kvcoGbocvwiY2gjX2Q5x3D9jnF7hbbryxlPgCkB93omrzliQtxCkYOBh6Can1Hy4u_zhIBSEZBrYas7VI_D8QUBLUSz54Yr1Ng/s1080/Thomas%20V.%20Sullivan.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc5TArsNtDkz8YWHstDMHSvnI9t-xWaQ6byejAytPgSmEuHoKw1Yp_Obw5cVF4JFb5TrhwpNlEtatiOZHQg8Whie4hx4kvcoGbocvwiY2gjX2Q5x3D9jnF7hbbryxlPgCkB93omrzliQtxCkYOBh6Can1Hy4u_zhIBSEZBrYas7VI_D8QUBLUSz54Yr1Ng/w640-h640/Thomas%20V.%20Sullivan.png" width="640" /></a></p><div><br /></div>Thomas Valentine Sullivan, a Boston-born sea caption and lay minister, opened the first YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association) in the United States in Boston, Massachusetts in December 1851. He and his Boston co-founders were inspired by the YMCA movement that started in London in 1844 launched by George Williams. <br /><br />The mission of Boston's YMCA, Sullivan explained to an audience at Old South Church shortly after it opened, was to “meet the young stranger as he enters our city, take him by the hand, direct him to a boarding house where he may find a quiet home. . . and in every way throw around him good influences, so that he may feel that he is not a stranger.” <br /><br />The Boston branch, which would become the prototype for thousands of YMCAs across the United States, was designed to offer the following amenities to young men new to the city:<br />. a reading room and library<div>. popular lectures series and evening classes<br />. social gatherings and excursions<br />. a gym<br />. employment department<br />. a boarding house<br />. bible classes<br /><br />Read more about the Boston YMCA on <a href="https://www.massmoments.org/moment-details/first-ymca-in-the-united-states-organized-in-boston.html" target="_blank">MassMoments</a>. </div><div><br />Sullivan was born in 1800 on what is now Salem Street in Boston's North End. He and his family were members of the Baptist Church. <br /><br />Described as having an "active, restless disposition, full of spirit, he early yielded to an impulse to go to sea, and his career on the ocean abounds in adventure," wrote L.L. Doggett in his 1901 book, <i>A History of the Boston YMCA</i>. "He gathered what was a fortune for his time, and in 1831 owned three ships. In that year, however, these were lost at sea, and he was involved in debt." It was after his bankruptcy that Sullivan turned to religion and devoted the rest of his life to religious proselytizing while continuing his seafaring adventures.<br /><br />Leonard M. Synder's account of Sullivan notes that he "was shipwrecked in the Antarctic, fell from a yard and was nearly killed; was attacked by pirates off the coast of Brazil; and by the time he was thirty three he had made a fortune and lost it." <br /><br />In 1834, Sullivan made a missionary trip into Brazil. On board his vessel he flew the Bethel flag, a 19th century symbol of a 'floating chapel' used by missionaries, and a supply of Bibles and tracts printed in several languages. He held a revival at sea and his crew converted to Christianity, wrote Doggett. <br /><br />Sullivan devoted much of his life helping sailors seek seek both religion and financial assistance. He spent several years in the Great Lakes region, and formed the American Bethel Society at Buffalo, NY. In 1840 Sullivan was appointed chaplain of the Society for Port Oswego, and later was a missionary-at-large for Lake Ontario, with instructions to hold services wherever possible for sailors. In 1842 he established at Oswego the first sailors' home on the Great Lakes. <br /><br />By the time he moved back to Boston in 1847, the <a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2022/05/deer-island-quarantine-stations.html">Irish Famine </a>was well underway and thousands of Irish refugees were arriving by ship, seeking help and resources. During this same period, young men who were coming in from the farms across the region. "Each year hundreds of New England country lads, most of them orthodox by upbringing, were drawn as by a magnet to the metropolis," wrote William B. Whiteside, author of <i>The Boston YMCA and Community Need, </i>published in 1951.</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p><div><br />While other benevolent groups were forming to assist the Irish famine victims who were mainly Catholic, Sullivan's efforts was geared more to the New England boys and men coming to town who were largely Protestant. <br /><br />Sullivan's Irish roots have interesting historical context. His grandfather, Valentine O'Sullivan, was born in Clonmel, Tipperary, in 1730, and was "educated in Ireland for the priesthood, but in 1752, having grown out of harmony with the tenets of the Roman Church," according to Doggett. <br /><br />O'Sullivan emigrated to Boston and later moved to New Hampshire, where he and his wife raised their five children. During the Revolutionary War, O'Sullivan was attached to the Third Regiment, New Hampshire Line, according to Michael J. O'Brien in <i>A Hidden Phase of American History</i>. O'Sullivan fought at the Battle of Ticonderoga and he died in July, 1879 at age 49.<br /><br />Sullivan himself died in 1859 and is buried at Woodbrook Cemetery in Woburn, MA. His tombstone epitaph reads: He Rode Out the Storm.<br /><br />For more about Irish history in Boston, Massachusetts and throughout New England, visit <a href="http://IrishHeritageTrail.com">IrishHeritageTrail.com</a>.<br /><br /><i>Research and Writing on Thomas V. Sullivan by Michael Quinlin.</i></div>irishboston.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318913501694126116noreply@blogger.com0