Women of the Irish Revolution

Attendees at “Women of the Irish Revolution” program were treated to a walk through history to see how early 20th century Ireland-born women engaged in three main causes: workers' rights of women, suffrage, and Irish freedom. 

Maureen Smith from Loyola University explained how these organizations and prominent figures like Countess Constance Markievicz, Dr. Kathleen Lynn, Jennie Wyse Power, Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, Margaret Skinnider, Elizabeth O’Farrell, and others demonstrated their activism during the time of the Easter Rising of 1916.  

Maureen Smith co-founded the local Chicago Branch of Celtic Women International, which offers monthly cultural programs on a variety of topics related to any of the Celtic Nations: Ireland, Scotland, Cornwall, Wales, Isle of Mann, Brittany, and Galicia.

She has worked in the Career Center at Loyola University since 1990, obtained her Master’s Degree in Computer Science as an adult learner in  2001, and is in final stages of a Master’s degree in Digital Humanities. 

This program is in partnership with Friends of the Edgewater Library.

Photos: top and middle | Maureen Smith; bottom | Maureen Smith (l) and Friends Program Committee Chair | Michele Allen

Joanna BroussardEdgewater Branch Librarywomen, Ireland, Irish Women, Irish Revolution, Maureen Smith, Loyola University, Celtic Women, Scotland, Cornwall, Wales, Isle of Mann, Brittany, Galicia, Friends of the Edgewater Library, Edgewater Library, Easter Rising of 1916, Friends, Chicago, Celtic Women International