The University of Montana’s [UM] proposal to commemorate the 1916 Rebellion derives from a series of discussions between faculty at UM and individual members and organizations from the Irish American community. Central to these discussions was the need to locate and examine the Easter Rising in the context of the relationship between the Irish of Ireland and of America from the post-Famine period down to 1916. It was in this timeframe that the emigrant community in the United States fashioned a new identity that would have profound cultural and political consequences for Ireland. Describing themselves as Irish American, they would be Irish in their culture and American in their politics, and in the process shape a new vision for Ireland that would unite and transform Irish nationalism into a movement which spanned both sides of the Atlantic. Their vision was the one Patrick Pearse embraced and labeled the ‘Fenian Program,’ a clear acknowledgement of its Irish-American origins. It is in the light of this vision that one sees how the Irish of the early 20th century had become a global community, how the Easter Rising was not simply a national protest but the product of an Irish and Irish American alliance that transformed it into a truly international event. 

The University of Montana believes that the origins and implications of the Easter Rising cannot be understood fully until the event is located and examined in an international context. Such a treatment invites a deeper and closer analysis of the relationship between Ireland and America in its historical and contemporary articulations. UM proposes two projects in particular to achieve these objectives.  The first is an academic conference, the second a series of documentary films, both of which are now described in turn.

Academic Conference

The University of Montana will host the Western Region American Conference for Irish Studies [ACIS] for 2016. The working theme of this conference is Her Exiled Children: Irish America and the Easter Rising. The event’s objectives are to broaden the parameters of discourse in a way that will delineate our understanding of the Easter Rising as an international occurrence and to direct intellectual capital towards analyzing the relationship between Ireland and the diaspora in the United States.  Scholars of Irish and Irish-American history will be invited to attend and to deliver papers on the political, economic and cultural strands of the relationship between the two communities. The conference proceedings will be published and distributed in the United States and in Ireland. This event will also include a banquet to which the Governor of the State of Montana and leading members of the political, business and cultural community will be invited. It is also proposed that a series of Irish cultural activities, to include concerts, a film festival, sports exhibitions and readings from Irish literature will be organized, in order to maximize community participation.

Documentary Films

Enhancing community involvement lies at the heart of UM’s second project:  the documentary film.  It is intended that the conference will make a critical contribution to the discourse pertaining to the Easter Rising.  By its nature, such an occasion will appeal primarily to the important but select academic audience. UM believes that the Irish-American narrative is of such importance and relevance to the public at large that major efforts should be made to share this story as widely as possible.  In an era where audio-visual media are the primary means of conveying knowledge, the documentary film genre is a particularly effective means of achieving this objective. The University of Montana proposes that three documentary programs be commissioned to examine the relationship between the Irish of America and Ireland in its economic, political and cultural articulations from 1880 to 1921. As the highly industrialized city of Butte formed an intersection between the culture of the East and the West, and was considered in this period one of the great Irish-American urban spaces, UM also proposes that Montana be taken as microcosm of the Irish-American experience and the location of these filmed documentaries.  The suggested subjects are outlined now in the appropriate order.

Topics

All great movements are shaped by great personalities and leaders. This is the story of 1916, and it is also the story of the Irish in America. The documentaries proposed by UM will look at the lives and times of those pioneering Irish who came in the aftermath of the Great Famine and whose rise to prominence in America would anticipate the success achieved by subsequent generations of Irish emigrants. These were the Irish whose lives in many ways foreshadowed and paralleled those of the leaders of 1916 in an Irish-American manner. They were dedicated to building the political, economic and cultural institutions of their new home, yet they remained ever faithful to serving the welfare and advancement of their counterparts in Ireland.

Building a Nation – Thomas Francis Meagher and the Politics of Irish America

It is unlikely that there was any Irish American political leader whose life was more closely bound up with the fortunes of Ireland and America than Thomas Francis Meagher. Meagher was a nation-builder, a man willing to sacrifice all in the pursuit of liberty and independence. He risked his life for Irish independence, sacrificed in defense of the American Union, and strove to create the state of Montana. He, more than any other American Irish leader of his time, epitomized the spirit and commitment of the leaders of 1916 to a free and independent Ireland. His place in the history of Montana is such that his statute stands defiantly in the forecourt of the Capitol Building.  Yet the inscription on its base refers primarily to his deeds as an Irish rebel. It is a curious and noteworthy fact that, even in Montana, Meagher is best known and most admired as an Irish nationalist and freedom fighter.

Thomas Francis Meagher was born in Waterford in 1823 and first came to public attention as an eloquent orator advocating for Irish independence. He was a member of the Young Irelanders as well as a prominent leader of the rebellion in 1848, for which he was condemned to death. His sentence was commuted to transportation for life to Van Diemen’s Land, from where he escaped to the United States in 1852. Meagher served in the American Civil War before eventually arriving in Montana.  There, he was twice the acting Governor of the territory prior to its incorporation as a state.   Meagher’s commitment to revolutionary politics and Irish independence defined Montana’s political life to the point where Butte, in particular, became a bastion of Irish nationalism. Such prominent figures as Eamon de Valera, Countess Markievicz, Hannah Skeffington-Sheehy, Mary McSwiney were among those who visited Butte to confer and discuss with the leadership of Irish America the contemporary conditions and future challenges of an independent Ireland. For nationalist Ireland, Irish America was a rich source of intellectual and financial capital and a growing political force which the British Government could not afford to ignore. Indeed, the same government was keenly aware of the implications of Irish-American political power for Anglo-American relations and this in turn significantly altered their policies towards Ireland. From now on, they would have to assess their treatment of Ireland in an international context and in light of its impact on political life in America. Nowhere was this more clearly shown than in the decision to spare the life of Eamon de Valera, one of the leaders of the 1916 Rising.

This documentary will examine the life of Thomas Francis Meagher as a prominent American Irish political leader, tracing the evolution of Irish nationalism in the United States from its commitment to independence to its transformation into an active role facilitating peace and reconciliation, securing visas to the US for young Irish emigrants, and promoting the interests of Ireland at the highest levels of political life in America today.  

The Economic Life of the Irish in America – Marcus Daly

There is an understandable tendency to treat 1916 as a political protest, another failed attempt to attain political independence from Britain. Such an approach has resulted in the much more complex program of objectives the insurgents sought to attain being ignored.  The leaders of 1916 were not simply interested in political autonomy; their vision saw an Ireland economically, culturally and politically independent. They realized that political autonomy was not possible without economic and cultural freedom. Limited autonomy was what Home Rule promised, and their protest was a repudiation of Home Rule. Economic power brought with it political power and independence.  Nowhere was this more clearly demonstrated than in Montana and in the achievements of one man in particular - Marcus Daly.

Born into poor circumstances in Co. Cavan, Daly emigrated to the United States aged 14. He began labouring in the mines, and through a combination of hard work and business acumen rose to become one of the richest men of his time in America. Daly, however, never lost his fidelity to his heritage and his people. He staffed his company from top to bottom with Irish; he paid his workers the best wages in the country; he joined and contributed generously to Irish cultural and political organizations, and he donated significant amounts of money to many projects back in his home country. Daly came to be viewed as the archetypal Irish American, one who combined commercial success with a fidelity to his roots. He, more than any other, instilled the self-belief, the independence of mind and shaped the character of the Irish of Montana.

The documentary based on Marcus Daly’s story will focus on his life with particular reference to his commitment to Ireland. This is a narrative that will resonate in a very particular way today, reminding us of the historical role played by the great industrial leaders in partnering with Ireland to overcome considerable economic challenges. 

Irish Cultural Life in America  – Seán Ó Súilleabháin,  Séamus Ó Muirchearthaigh and their legacy

Patrick Pearse frequently remarked that the Irish revolution began with the founding of the Gaelic League, the cultural movement established in 1893 to preserve and promote the Irish language and Irish Gaelic culture. What is not so well known is that the concept of such an organisation, as well as the name by which it came to be known, was a product of Irish America.  It was Micheál Ó Lócháin in New York who first formulated the basic idea in the pages of his newspaper, An Gaodhal, suggesting The Gaelic League as an appropriate appellation. It was this body more than any other which would provide the structural support for, and facilitate an ongoing dialogue and exchange of ideas between, the Irish of Ireland and America. It provided the forum for young men and women who championed the cause of Gaelic Ireland and whose lives would impact the cultural identity of generations. Pearse correctly  remarked that the Gaelic League trained up an army of revolutionaries.  It did so on both sides of the Atlantic and in a way that continues to have ramifications for contemporary society.

Two young men who embodied the spirit of the Gaelic League in Montana were Seán Ó Súilleabháin and Seamus Ó Muircheartaigh.  Both were formed in the cradle of Irish Gaelic culture, bringing to Butte a passion for their language and heritage. Each was a cultural and political nationalist, and quickly emerged as leading members of the Gaelic League. Through a combination of zeal and organizational talent, Ó Súilleabháin and Ó Muircheartaigh transformed the Gaelic League branch in Butte into one of the most active in the country and one of the largest benefactors to the cultural revival in Ireland.

Both Ó Súilleabháin and Ó Muircheartaigh were poets and song-writers of some merit whose life experiences greatly influenced the themes and content of their compositions. Ó Súilleabháin found much of his inspiration in the contemporary nationalist movement, composing many popular songs celebrating Ireland’s heroic past and promise for the future.  He would win the first prize in the Oireachtas of 1920 for an ode he wrote celebrating the convening of the first Dáil in 1919. Ó Muircheartaigh, on the other hand, was a hard-rock miner, who witnessed first-hand the hardships and tragedies synonymous with this work. He drew on the native tradition to give voice to the realities of the miner’s life and the emigrant experience. Together, Ó Súilleabháín and Ó Muircheartaigh produce a body of writings which gives an insight into the world view of an Irish community in America from inside that society.

Ó Súilleabháin and Ó Muircheartaigh have largely gone unnoticed in the historical record, but their memory is preserved in the lore of the people of Montana. Their cultural legacy has proved powerful and transformative for today’s Irish Americans. This legacy manifested itself in the 1990s with the establishment of the appropriately named Montana Gaelic Cultural Society [MGCS].  This body’s mission is to preserve and promote Irish Gaelic culture was in keeping with that of Ó Súilleabháin and Ó Muircheartaigh. MGCS initiated a cultural revival in Montana, gathered the necessary financial resources, formed relationship with the Consulate in San Francisco, and created the vision for the University of Montana’s Irish Studies Program.

In its primary focus on cultural exponents like Seán Ó Súilleabháin and Séamus Ó Muircheataigh, our final documentary will look at the historical and contemporary role of heritage and tradition as a powerful and creative force uniting the Irish on both sides of the Atlantic continuously over time.

Conclusion

As the institution with the largest Irish Studies Program west of the Mississippi, serving a very large Irish- American community, the University of Montana is keenly aware of the need for further research and scholarship in the area of relations between both countries. The present proposal derives from this awareness.  It is designed to commemorate the Easter Rising, not solely as a pivotal event or moment in history, but equally for the opportunity the commemoration provides for studying a critical transatlantic relationship in both its historical and contemporary articulations.

UM believes that such a study is especially timely in the context of current events. One can today see obvious parallels between the challenges facing this generation in Ireland and those met by the leaders of 1916. Once again, serious questions are being raised concerning Irish political freedom and autonomy; the economic challenges facing the country are as great as ever experienced; and with increasingly diverse population, questions of cultural and national identity have acquired greater urgency.  These were the questions addressed by the nationalist leaders in early 20th century Ireland. They were not internalized, but were internationalized and engaged on a global level by a community for whom the welfare of Ireland and the Irish people was foundational to their concept of who they were. This project will focus attention on this concept, on the imperatives of the relationship between Ireland and Irish America, and on ways of developing this relationship that serve the best interests of Ireland and the Irish. Such an approach is consistent with the vision, the hopes and objectives of the leaders of the 1916 Rising on both sides of the Atlantic, and as such, is a fitting way to commemorate this seminal event.