On Sunday, May 15, Roundtable President and historian John Ridge will lead a walking tour of locations in lower Manhattan important in the preliminary activities and subsequent actions related to the 1916 Easter Monday Rising in Dublin 100 years ago. This will be a special opportunity to see these New York sites through the perceptions of a widely recognized expert on the history of the New York Irish. The tour will begin at the Nathan Hale Statue at City Hall near Broadway and Murray Street on Sunday, May 15, at 2 p.m. Participants should prepare for continuous walking and standing. The tour will last approximately 75 minutes. For Members & their guests only.

New York City was a center for secret preparations for the Irish Rebellion in 1916. Many of the sites associated with Irish-American support for the militant nationalists in Ireland were located an easy stroll from New York’s City Hall and can still be seen today. On this special tour, stops will include the old Gaelic American newspaper building where fervent Fenian John Devoy helped plan the insurrection and where 1916 martyr Roger Casement visited. Also included will be the headquarters of the Irish Relief Fund where money was raised for victims of the Rising, and the Emmet and McNevin monuments at St. Paul’s Chapel where the secret society Clan na Gael annually commemorated the 1798 Rebellion. A walk down Chambers Street will recall Irish exile O’Donovan Rossa whose 1915 burial in Dublin signaled the emotional rebirth of militant nationalism just a few months before the Rising. Other sites associated with 1916 such as the Irish Race Convention site, the Irish World newspaper building, and the offices of Jeremiah O’Leary, prominent lawyer and Irish-American activist, whose sensational “treason” trial became a symbol for free speech, will also be visited.

John Ridge is president of the New York Irish History Roundtable. He is the author of many articles and several books on the Irish in the New York City area. His last article, “World War II and the New York Irish,” appeared in volume 27 of New York Irish History. His book, Celebrating 250 Years of the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade, was published in Spring, 2011.

Save the Dates

The 1916 Rising: A NY Walking Tour
Sunday, May 15, 2-3:15 p.m.
Led by John Ridge
Meet at Nathan Hale Statue
City Hall Park
Near Broadway & Murray Street
For Members & Their Guests Only