"Who Fears to Speak of Easter Week" [1]

In the years following the Rising, the events of Easter week would endure as a significant part of Ireland’s national memory. Although the Treaty creating the Irish Free State was accepted in 1922, conflict continued for many years afterwards between the Irish and the Northern Irish, who remained a part of the United Kingdom. Thus, clinging to the ideals of independence as established during the Rising was significant for the Irish Republic in the years of trouble. Even before one year had passed, the Irish and Irish Americans were already holding commemorations and publishing works to memorialize the Easter Rising. [2]

Clan-na-Gael. The Clan-na-Gael Journal No. 30, October 22, 1916. Philadelphia: Clan-na-Gael, 1916. [Digital Library]

O'Cathasaigh, Sean. The Sacrifice of Thomas Ashe. Dublin: Fergus O'Conner, 1918. [Digital Library]

Colum, Padraic, and Edward Joseph Harrington O'Brien. Poems of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, Thomas MacDonagh, P. H. Pearse (Padraic MacPiarais), Joseph Mary Plunkett, Sir Roger Casement. Boston: Small, Maynard & company, 1916. [Digital Library]

Shorter, Dora Sigerson. "The Wreath [Easter 1917]." The Tricolour: Poems of the Irish Revolution. Dublin: Maunsel and Roberts, Limited, 1922. [Internet Archive]

In later years, anniversaries of the rising were marked by publications, speeches, and cultural events, such as plays about the Rising. [3]  Many of these various forms of commemoration reflected and responded to current events in Ireland. Now, as the 100-year anniversary approaches, the Irish people once again seek memorialize the sacrifices of the men and women who fought for Ireland’s independence.  

Catholic Church. Archdiocese of Philadelphia. “Latest Church News of Europe: Sinn Feiners Demand for Catholic Burial in Ireland Bodies of Men Killed in Easter Week.” The Catholic Standard and Times, V. 22, No. 39, Saturday, August 11, 1917.  Philadelphia: Catholic Times Pub. Co., 1917, 2. [Digitial Library]

Friends of Irish Freedom, National Bureau of Information., and P. S. O'Flannagain. “Press Release No. 25, From: Friends of Irish Freedom, National Bureau of Information, [1920].” 1920. [Digital Library]

Army Council, Irish Republican Army. Irish Republican Army, General Headquarters, Dublin, October 1938. S.I.: s.n., 1938. [Digital Library]

Healy, Collins. Typescript, Press Release: "Philadelphia Semicentennial Committee for the 1916 Irish Rising," March 20, 1966. 1966. [Digital Library]

Newspaper Clipping, "Memorial Mass For Irish Patriots," [1966]. [Digital Library]

The Irish People. Newspaper Clipping, "Editorial: Proclamation of the Irish Republic - 1916," April 10, 1982. Bronx, N.Y.: The Irish People, 1982. [Digital Library]

References

1. “Who Fears to Speak of Easter Week,” The Clan-na-Gael Journal, No. 30, October 22, 1916 (Philadelphia: Clan-na-Gael, 1916), http://digital.library.villanova.edu/Item/vudl:281980.

2. Thomas MacDonagh, P.H. Pearse [Padraic MacPiarals], Joseph Mary Plunkett, Sir Roger Casement, Poems of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, ed. Padraic Colum and Edward J. O'Brien (Boston: Small, Maynard & Company, 1916), http://digital.library.villanova.edu/Item/vudl:431586; Clan-na-Gael, The Clan-na-Gael Journal, No. 30, October 22, 1916 (Philadelphia: Clan-na-Gael, 1916), http://digital.library.villanova.edu/Item/vudl:281977.

3. Sean O’Casey, The Plough and the Stars: A Tragedy in Four Acts (New York: MacMillian, 1926); Easter Week Commemoration, 1933, (Kilmainham: Ardiff, printer, 1933), http://digital.library.villanova.edu/Item/vudl:138873; Collins Healy, Typescript, Press Release: Philadelphia Semicentennial Committee for the 1916 Irish Rising, March 20, 1966. (1966), http://digital.library.villanova.edu/Item/vudl:144334; “Editorial: Proclamation of the Irish Republic - 1916," The Irish People, April 10, 1982 (Bronx, N.Y.: The Irish People, 1982), http://digital.library.villanova.edu/Item/vudl:144164.