Irish History Podcast

“The Irish fight for liberty is the greatest epic of the modern age… those suffering together under British imperialism must learn to coordinate their effort before they can hope to be free.”

These words from the Black radical Cyril Briggs captured how many people of colour viewed the Irish War of Independence. Today, the Irish Revolution is usually remembered as a struggle shaped by empire, nationalism and religion. But race also haunted this history. As Ireland fought for freedom, racial tensions were erupting across the world. In 1919, the United States was convulsed by the Red Summer, when white mobs launched brutal attacks on African American communities. At the same time, many opponents of Irish independence portrayed the conflict in Ireland as a racial struggle.

Yet the relationship between Irish republicans and Black radicals was never straightforward. While Black activists looked to Ireland with hope, many Irish leaders were slow to support Black struggles and some even argued that Ireland deserved freedom precisely because the Irish were white.

This episode uncovers the forgotten story of solidarity, suspicion and betrayal between Irish and Black radicals and reveals how deeply the politics of race shaped the Irish War of Independence.

This is the fourth episode in Brothers in Pain a groundbreaking Global history of the Irish War of Independence by Dr Brian Hanley
Written, Researched & Narrated by Dr Brian Hanley. Check out Brian's publications here https://www.tcd.ie/history/staff/brian-hanley.php

Producer: Fin Dwyer
Sound: Kate Dunlea
Note from Brian :

In researching these episodes I have been indebted to the work of the following scholars;
Anna Lively, Sam McGrath, Bruce Nelson, Terry Dunne, David Brundage, Niamh Coffey, Gerard Shannon, Maurice Casey, Kelly Anne Reynolds, Chris McNickle, Joe Doyle, Liz Gillis, FM Carroll, Patrick Mannion, Jimmy Yann, Niall Cullen, Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc, Keith Jeffrey, Arthur Mitchell, John Borgonovo, Kate O’Malley, Michael Doorley, Robin Adams, Kevin Kenny, Fearghal McGarry, Catherine M. Burns, Síobhra Aiken, Patrick J. Mahony, Darragh Gannon, Matthew Pratt Guterl and James R. Barrett.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Irish funerals and wakes are one of the more famous aspects of our culture. Often taking the form of a celebration, it has been said we do death well. However the modern Irish funeral is not the timeless tradition we often imagine. In this episode of the Irish History Podcast I explore the strange history of Irish funerals and the lost world of 19th-century death customs.

Drawing on folklore and first-hand accounts, I explore the history behind the banshee (bean sí) and other less well known death omens. I also trace the strange and unsettling rituals, superstitions and wake traditions that once surrounded death in Ireland - customs that can be difficult to relate to today.

From the banshee to the grave, this is a journey into a lost world of grief, ritual and belief.

Written, researched, and presented by Fin Dwyer
Sound: Kate Dunlea
Voice Actors: Aidan Crowe and Therese Murray

If you want to learn more about wakes, check out this episode recorded in the Irish Wake Museum https://shows.acast.com/irishhistory/episodes/the-irish-wake-a-history

Sources
* Patricia Lysaght, The Banshee: The Irish Death-Messenger https://archive.org/details/bansheeirishdeat0000lysa
* St. John Seymour, True Irish Ghost Stories https://archive.org/details/trueirishghostst00seymiala

Duchas.ie, the National Folklore Archive
https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4602737/4599804/4634242
https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4427971/4362341/4466724
https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4649683/4646384/4650807
https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4427866/4351921/4435336
https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4649683/4646384/4650807
https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4758475/4747226/4779806
https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5008831/4959379/5072669
https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4623003/4622767/4630843
https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4742070/4732588/4819790
https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4922035/4920905/4955848
https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4922258/4864961/5021036
https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4706331/4703491/4726094
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Intercourse between Bolshevism and Sinn Féin" These were the words one British newspaper used to describe the relationship between the Irish Republican movement and the fledgling Soviet Union during the Irish Revolution. It was an unlikely pairing. Ireland became a deeply conservative, Catholic country where communism was viewed with suspicion and fear. Yet during the Irish War of Independence, as British forces fought republicans across the island, whispers of Soviet support and communist sympathy rippled through both Dublin and London.

But how real was this link? Did the IRA truly seek Soviet weapons and backing? And what did Moscow make of Irish republicanism? This episode uncovers the remarkable and forgotten story of how Ireland and Soviet Russia came to view each other as potential allies, and why that relationship would ultimately collapse. This is the third episode in Brothers in Pain ia groundbreaking series by Dr Brian Hanley that explores the international dimensions of the Irish War of Independence.

Written, Researched & Narrated by Dr Brian Hanley. Check out Brian's publications here https://www.tcd.ie/history/staff/brian-hanley.php
Producer: Fin Dwyer
Sound: Kate Dunlea

Note from Brian :
In researching these episodes I have been indebted to the work of the following scholars;
Anna Lively, Sam McGrath, Bruce Nelson, Terry Dunne, David Brundage, Niamh Coffey, Gerard Shannon, Maurice Casey, Kelly Anne Reynolds, Chris McNickle, Joe Doyle, Liz Gillis, FM Carroll, Patrick Mannion, Jimmy Yann, Niall Cullen, Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc, Keith Jeffrey, Arthur Mitchell, John Borgonovo, Kate O’Malley, Michael Doorley, Robin Adams, Kevin Kenny, Fearghal McGarry, Catherine M. Burns, Síobhra Aiken, Patrick J. Mahony, Darragh Gannon, Matthew Pratt Guterl and James R. Barrett.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For Dublin's gay community, Irish Independence and the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922 heralded anything but freedom. While the new state promised change, the gay community faced decades of repression, arrest, and severe punishment. Yet despite this, they continued to build lives, relationships, and communities in the shadow of fear.

In this episode, I am joined by historian Averill Earls to discuss her book Love in the Lav, a fascinating history of the community in Dublin in the decades after Irish independence. While repression is central to the story, this conversation also uncovers a more complicated picture of the community's relationship with wider Irish society and the ways people navigated a world shaped by surveillance, stigma, and silence.

Become a supporter of the show patreon.com/irishpodcast

Get your copy of Averill's book Love in the Lav
In Ireland - https://www.hodgesfiggis.ie/book/love-in-the-lav/averill-earls/9781439924167

In the US Bookshop.org - https://bookshop.org/p/books/love-in-the-lav-a-social-biography-of-same-sex-desire-in-ireland-1922-1972-averill-earls/99753665e753ea33?ean=9781439924167&next=t

Averill Earls is Associate Professor of History at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, Executive Producer of Dig: A History Podcast, and co-convener of the Reminiscence and Remembrance Oral History Project for LGBTQ+ Ireland.

Sound: Kate Dunlea
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Keep handing it to the Micks. The Roman Catholic Irish are, and always have been, the only un-Americanised people in the United States.”
These words came from a supporter of Admiral William S. Sims, an ardent opponent of Irish republicans in the United States in the 1920s. This episode of Brothers in Pain explores the crucial battle for American public opinion during the Irish War of Independence.

While the equivalent of over one hundred million dollars was raised for republican organisations and for victims of the war of independence in Ireland, there was also strong opposition to Irish independence in the United States. Leading American politicians regarded Britain as a key ally, while groups like the Ku Klux Klan despised what they saw as immigrant politics. This podcast tells the history of this crucial battleground in the Irish War of Independence. Brothers in Pain is a groundbreaking series by Dr Brian Hanley that explores the international dimensions of the Irish War of Independence.

Written, Researched & Narrated by Dr Brian Hanley
Producer Fin Dwyer
Sound Kate Dunlea

Note from Brian :
In researching these episodes I have been indebted to the work of the following scholars;
Anna Lively, Sam McGrath, Bruce Nelson, Terry Dunne, David Brundage, Niamh Coffey, Gerard Shannon, Maurice Casey, Kelly Anne Reynolds, Chris McNickle, Joe Doyle, Liz Gillis, FM Carroll, Patrick Mannion, Jimmy Yann, Niall Cullen, Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc, Keith Jeffrey, Arthur Mitchell, John Borgonovo, Kate O’Malley, Michael Doorley, Robin Adams, Kevin Kenny, Fearghal McGarry, Catherine M. Burns, Síobhra Aiken, Patrick J. Mahony, Darragh Gannon, Matthew Pratt Guterl and James R. Barrett.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.