Woman Suffrage and Irish Nationalism: ethnic appeals and alliances in America

Abstract

Nationalism first brought Irish-American women into a political struggle in the late nineteenth century, a role that did not go unnoticed by suffragists, who reached out to Irish-Americans through sympathy with the Home Rule movement. These connections also continued into the twentieth century as the crisis of World War I converged with revolutionary nationalism and the final push for suffrage in America. A small group of nationalists and suffragists worked together and sought alliances in an environment where Irish-American men wielded political power and Irish-American women continued to be active in the nationalist movement beyond the Ladies' Land League era.