Review: Women of the Irish Rising by Michael Hogan

Synopsis: This is the story of the women who put their lives on the line for Irish freedom. They were not only the nurses, cooks, and couriers, but also gunrunners, sharpshooters, and organizers. Many who barely received mention in mainstream histories are fully revealed here both in their own words and by those who witnessed their incredible courage and leadership.

Over 250 women took part in the Irish Rising, more than 70 were imprisoned, and one was sentenced to death by the British. The struggle was initially betrayed by a conservative government which compromised their rights to equality, but women were finally vindicated in recent years.

Now the fight for distributive justice and the unity of the entire nation, original goals of the Easter Rising, have passed to the present generation.

~ ~ ~

This is exactly what it sets out to be - an easy to follow account of the women who were participants - combatants, auxiliaries, medics - in the events of the East Rising in Ireland in 1916. Hogan links these women directly with the events of the Rising as they played out. These women were active in their roles not just voices of support. And it should be noted that out of all the male leaders, it was only De Valera who refused to have women in his contingent.

The Easter Rising was an Irish republican insurrection against British government in Ireland, which began on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, in Dublin. The uprising was planned to be nationwide in scope, but a series of mishaps led to its being confined to Dublin alone - the British had discovered the plans, leaders were arrested and planned action was called off. Following a forces surrender, Pearse and 14 other leaders of the rebellion were court-martialed and executed by British authorities in the weeks that followed. Though the uprising itself had been unpopular with most of the Irish people, these executions excited a wave of revulsion against the British authorities and turned the dead republican leaders into martyred heroes.

Of the 250 or so women who participated, 79 received sentences of imprisonment - and some of deportation.  Only one - Constance Markiewicz - received a court marital and death penalty (later commuted to imprisonment). The first fatality of the Irish Rising was a nurse - Margaret Keogh. And it was nurse Elizabeth O'Farrell who, under constant fire from the British, delivered the order to surrender to the Volunteers.

Of the women included by Hogan, some of the roles consisted of: gun-running, financial support, medical support, communications, military combatants, and training. The women in the 1916 Rising represented a cross-section of Irish society - single and married, from different religious denominations and social strata, and they included an actress, nurses, a doctor, a noblewoman, shop-assistants, seamstresses, feminists and pacifists.

The majority of the women were supporters and / or actively involved in the suffrage movement and of Cumann na mBan (Women's Guard), or were themselves members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood or the Irish Civilian Army.

Many documented their experiences during the Rising and beyond, and continued to be active in both the womens' suffrage movement and the struggle for a free Ireland. Notwithstanding their most active roles in the Rising, womens' rights were largely forgotten (despite promises to the contrary contained in the Proclamation). Their roles were severely restricted under Eamon de Valera (who as noted above, refused to have them in his contingent).

These women were deserving of more than just a mere footnote in the history books, and Hogan concludes with a further discussion on womens' rights, and the meaning of the Rising and the role of women which was - and still is - only imperfectly understood.

A valuable resource for further study and research for those with a deep interest in their particular period of history. Highly recommended reading - and a great addition to my own personal library.

Review: Cry of Murder on Broadway by Julie Miller

Synopsis: In Cry of Murder on Broadway, Julie Miller shows how a woman's desperate attempt at murder came to momentarily embody the anger and anxiety felt by many people at a time of economic and social upheaval and expanding expectations for equal rights.

On the evening of November 1, 1843, a young household servant named Amelia Norman attacked Henry Ballard, a prosperous merchant, on the steps of the new and luxurious Astor House hotel. Agitated and distraught, Norman followed Ballard down Broadway before confronting him at the door to the Astor House. Taking out a folding knife, she stabbed him, just missing his heart.

Ballard survived the attack, and the trial that followed created a sensation. Newspapers in New York and beyond followed the case eagerly, and crowds filled the courtroom every day. Prominent author and abolitionist Lydia Maria Child, championed Norman and later included her story in her fiction and her writing on women's rights.

The would-be murderer also attracted the support of politicians, journalists, and legal and moral reformers who saw her story as a vehicle to change the law as it related to "seduction," and advocate for the rights of workers. Cry of Murder on Broadway describes how New Yorkers, besotted with the drama of the courtroom and the lurid stories of the penny press, followed the trial for sensation. Throughout all this, Norman gained the sympathy of New Yorkers, in particular the jury, which acquitted her in less than ten minutes.

Miller deftly weaves together Norman's story to show how, in one violent moment, she expressed all the anger that the women of the emerging movement for women's rights would soon express in words.

I will preface this with my notes when at Page 38: "I am going to admit that I am struggling to find some connection with this story. It starts, goes back, moves forward; it is flooded with so much (unnecessary) information that my mind is failing to absorb it all and sift through what is relevant and what is not. I shall no doubt keep persevering ... for the time being."

I will continue by saying that I skimmed through the rest of the book - unimpressed. Quite a lot of the information could easily have been curated and inserted into the trial component of the story. I was not interested in the (vast) biographical information on a number of other players - again these could easily have been significantly shortened.

As the focus of this book seemed to be on Lydia Maria Child, author and reformer, one wonders whether of not this book should have been about her with the account of Amelia Norman being given as illustrative of her actions (with others) in bringing about reform for women.

Amelia's (and Lydia's) story ends just under the halfway mark - the rest is taken up by sources, notes and bibliography. Had I realised just how this would be structured, I would have passed. 

Lucy Stone by Sally G. McMillen

In the rotunda of the nation's Capital a statue pays homage to three famous nineteenth-century American women suffragists: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucretia Mott. "Historically," the inscription beneath the marble statue notes, "these three stand unique and peerless." In fact, the statue has a glaring omission: Lucy Stone. A pivotal leader in the fight for both abolition and gender equality, her achievements marked the beginning of the women's rights movement and helped to lay the groundwork for the eventual winning of women's suffrage. Yet, today most Americans have never heard of Lucy Stone.

Sally McMillen sets out to address this significant historical oversight in this engaging biography. Exploring her extraordinary life and the role she played in crafting a more just society, McMillen restores Lucy Stone to her rightful place at the center of the nineteenth-century women's rights movement. Raised in a middle-class Massachusetts farm family, Stone became convinced at an early age that education was key to women's independence and selfhood, and went on to attend the Oberlin Collegiate Institute. When she graduated in 1847 as one of the first women in the US to earn a college degree, she was drawn into the public sector as an activist and quickly became one of the most famous orators of her day. Lecturing on anti-slavery and women's rights, she was instrumental in organizing and speaking at several annual national woman's rights conventions throughout the 1850s. She played a critical role in the organization and leadership of the American Equal Rights Association during the Civil War, and, in 1869, cofounded the American Woman Suffrage Association, one of two national women's rights organizations that fought for women's right to vote. Encompassing Stone's marriage to Henry Blackwell and the birth of their daughter Alice, as well as her significant friendships with Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, and others, McMillen's biography paints a complete picture of Stone's influential and eminently important life and work.

Self-effacing until the end of her life, Stone did not relish the limelight the way Elizabeth Cady Stanton did, nor did she gain the many followers whom Susan B. Anthony attracted through her extensive travels and years of dedicated work. Yet her contributions to the woman's rights movement were no less significant or revolutionary than those of her more widely lauded peers. In this accessible, readable, and historically-grounded work, Lucy Stone is finally given the standing she deserves.