Having taken their lead from the Suffragette and Labour movements, the Women's Picket for the Advancement of America'a War Aims took to the street in various major cities around America to protest the lack of support that American President Woodrow Wilson's government gave to the fledgling Irish Republic.
Trailblazers
The year 1920 can be viewed as an era defining period for the women involved in the struggle for Irish independence in America. A series of events throughout the year represented the culmination of an age of hard work and organisation which provided a strong basis from which the women’s movement could build upon as it took to the forefront of the public eye in denouncing British rule in Ireland. At a time when the activity of their male counterparts was plagued by ideological disputes and infighting, the women’s movement rose to prominence through a succession of highly effective public acts, some of which would cause a rippling effect across the eastern seaboard of the United States.
The roots of the Irish women’s movement in America can be traced back to the 1880s and the development of the Ladies Land League, a sub-section of the Land movement, which effectively helped to stimulate Irish nationalism in the United States, much like it did in Ireland. From this point onwards, many leading Irish and Irish-American women emerged as notable figures in society and began to take active roles in issues such as labour, suffrage, and Irish nationalism. In addition to this, the women’s movement in America could take inspiration from the marked increase in female figures and groups becoming involved and taking a firm stance on social issues back in Ireland. This hotbed of activity continued to grow and develop throughout turbulent times in both the United States and Ireland.
A Call to Action
By 1920 events in Ireland were furthered intensified as the War of Independence entered its second year. The shock and outrage that was sparked following the murder of Tomás MacCurtain on 20 March 1920 would not be isolated to Britain and Ireland. Indeed, in the days following the death of the Lord Mayor of Cork, the War of Independence threatened to intensify even further following an increased deployment of British soldiers into Ireland, a deployment which would include the infamous Black and Tans. Direct action was urgently needed.
It could be argued that fewer people understood the scale and significance of generating publicity in America better than Hanna Sheehy Skeffington. The details of her speaking tour of the United States, which ran from 1917 through to 1918, are an indication that she was very much acquainted to the power that American public opinion could play in the Irish question, despite the thousands of miles which separated each country. Indeed, at a crucial moment in time she reached out to her contacts across the Atlantic and consequently set events in motion which would highlight the role women could play in effecting change in the public sphere. Sheehy Skeffington was shrewd enough to recognise that conducting a highly publicised display of anger at recent events in Ireland could be pivotal in averting what she believed to be an imminent massacre throughout the country. In addition to this, the upcoming Democratic and Republican primaries for the 1920 Presidential election provided further incentive for an increase in activism as Irish-American nationalists sought to gain official United States support for Irish independence.
Fortunately, it was roughly around this time that a group of women were becoming mobilised in New York at the behest of Dr. William J. Maloney. Acting in response to a plea from Harry Boland to generate wider publicity and support for the republican cause throughout the United States, Maloney set about organising a series of picket protests outside the British Embassy in Washington D.C. However, the appeal made by Sheehy Skeffington must have conjured a greater sense of urgency which meant action needed to take place as soon as possible. Within days scores of women were called to action from prominent groups such as Gertrude Kelly’s Cumann na mBan, as well as the female contingent of the Irish Progressive League. However, while many of the women volunteering their services stemmed from a variety of radical backgrounds, it soon became apparent that Maloney did not care much for the motivations of the women involved but rather sought to carefully select young, attractive women who were most likely to receive the media’s attention. The extent of this approach went so far that many of the women chosen to picket were actually actresses who would be paid for protesting. ‘The Irish Aviatrix’ Mollie Carroll, best known for perhaps the most daring stunt of the picketing campaign which involved flying a plane over Washington and “bombing” the British Embassy with leaflets denouncing British rule in Ireland, was reportedly offered rent money and an additional $50 by Maloney if she committed to the picket lines for four weeks. Although such methods of assembling support were highly disapproved of by many women within the burgeoning movement, it appeared they were willing to carry on for the time being and focus on the objective ahead by proceeding with the picketing campaign. However, from the beginning of the initial picketing period a number of women worked towards undermining Maloney’s approach and leadership, providing a telling insight into events which would unfold in due course.
The ability to stir publicity was another factor which Maloney placed heavy importance on. Indeed, a number of the women approached to be involved in the picketing had some line of connection to the media. Gertrude Corless, one of the women chosen as co-leader of the women’s pickets, was a journalist by profession and a public relations expert. In addition to Corless, Kathleen O’Brennan was another journalist and writer who was instrumental in garnering media attention for the pickets, despite an active order for her deportation existing from her relationship with anarchist Dr. Marie Equi and the Industrial Workers of the World. As Corless and O’Brennan were busy putting in the work on the ground in Washington, Gertrude Kelly was operating from New York City in an attempt to help maintain the women’s movement and transform it towards to a more radical approach, independent of Maloney who viewed the pickets as a mere short term publicity stunt.
The April Pickets
April 1, 1920 witnessed the first in a succession of days where picket protests would take place in Washington. From the outset the women adopted a strategy of deliberate provocation, which took heavy inspiration from leading American suffragist Alice Paul who had implemented such tactics in her efforts to win women’s suffrage. Coverage on the events following the first day of picketing was limited, however the weekend press exploded with reports of the women’s gathering in Washington. Headlines from papers across the country ran with titles such as “Women Post Pickets at British Embassy, Demand Irish Freedom, Attack England” (New York Times); “Women for Erin Storm British at Washington” (The Minneapolis Morning Tribune); and “Down with British Militarism is Cry of Women Pickets” (The Coshocton Tribune, Ohio). The media savviness of the people involved was an apparent success as word quickly spread far and wide of the women’s efforts.
The picketing continued throughout the Easter weekend and into the following week. However, from Monday April 5, the attitude of the police towards the women protesting quickly began to change as arrests started to mount up. A total of six arrests occurred in the first two days of the week, with four pickets charged with violating federal law which stated it was illegal to “offer an insult to a diplomatic representative of a foreign government”. The pickets were judged to have “insulted” British officials by protesting British activity in Ireland on the steps of the Embassy. Following the initial arrests, the women decide to change their tact and relocate the protest to the State Department where it was believed they would be able to avoid arrest. However, upon returning to the British Embassy, the arrests resumed and by the time the picketing ceased there were a total of ten women who faced federal grand jury. The arresting of pickets signalled an end to Maloney’s involvement with the movement. It was now swiftly shifting away from the idea which he initially conceived of a positive publicity stunt, and he could not justify the arrests of women protesters to the upper echelons of the Irish republican movement in America. Needless to say the women’s convictions remained unhindered. On the contrary, the arrests made by police served to push them towards greater radicalisation. Having witnessed two arrests first-hand, Mollie Carroll was inspired to perform her infamous aviation stunt which caught the imagination of the nationwide press the following day as they declared, “Capitol Sees Woman Flier Elude Police”. To further emphasise their commitment to the cause, many of the women refused to accept the provision of bail money following their arrests.
The primary objective of the pickets conducted in Washington was to generate as much anti-British publicity as possible in an effort to deter any potential massacre taking place in Ireland at a time when the War of Independence was escalating. It is undoubtedly a testament to the efforts of the women involved that no casualties were inflicted on the Irish within the two week period their protesting took place. In addition to this, it became evident again the strength that public attention in America, to the atrocities being committed in Ireland, can hold. Not only can the pickets of April 1920 be viewed as a success for the women’s movement in averting a potential massacre but it can also be recognised as a pivotal moment when the women assumed complete control of the movement, away from the likes of Maloney and other male influencers. From this point forth they effectively became the American Women Pickets for the Enforcement of America’s War Aims.
Absolute Autonomy and Increased Radicalisation
As Dr. William Maloney relinquished himself from any authority and involvement with the women’s pickets, following a series of arrests outside the British Embassy in Washington D.C., control of the movement had now been fully assumed by the women with a more radical outlook on how to achieve support for Irish independence. They would no longer be hindered by the constraints of the conservative male republicans, be they Irish or Irish-American. The women’s movement, for now, was in full control of its destiny and they acted in such a manner so to emphasis their autonomy from male politicians and influencers. It was their aim to demonstrate the ability of women to effect change without male interference. However, in spite of the radicalism of many of the women during this period, there remained a contingent of women who stayed loyal to the more-so conservative male republicans and their views on how to pursue Irish freedom. On each side of the nationalist divide in 1920, both from de Valera’s perspective and Cohalan and the Friends of Irish Freedom, there was a fear that independent activism would serve to only disrupt and dismantle the efforts of the wider movement associated with Irish nationalism and republicanism. As a result, attempts would be made during the summer of 1920 to undermine and derail the work of the independent republican women activists.
The first official meeting of the American Women Pickets for the Enforcement of America’s War Aims was held in New York on April 20, 1920, organised by Gertrude Kelly. Listed among the speakers at this event were Gertrude Corless and Leonora O’Reilly, a highly influential Irish-American labour organiser. During this meeting comparisons were drawn between the women involved in the April pickets and the revolutionaries involved in the American War of Independence. In the aftermath of their formal inauguration, the newly named association began to place a greater emphasis on the story of America’s rebellion against the British Empire. This was considered to be an integral aspect if the protests were to be considered a success and in order to generate further success for the Irish movement throughout the United States. In addition to this, by likening the American struggle for independence with the Irish struggle, republican activists were creating a deterrent for the ever-increasing Anglo-Saxon nativist climate which sought to highlight the similarities between American and British culture while at the same time disparaging the growth and influence of immigrant communities throughout the country.
Publicised, Dramatic Protesting
In the months following the April pickets, another series of events and protests would be staged continuing the theme of highly publicised and dramatic protests. Taking inspiration from key events of the American Revolution, the American Women Pickets set about taking advantage of this aspect of American history in order to draw wider publicity and recognition for the cause of Ireland. Similarly, the strategy of ‘deliberate provocation’ continued to such an extent that pickets burned and tore apart a Union flag in two separate incidents during a demonstration held outside the U.S. Treasury Building in Washington D.C. on June 2. The event provided some of the most incendiary imagery of all the events throughout 1920 and was accompanied by a quote from one of the pickets involved, Mary Keena, who stated the scene was “just another little Boston tea party to remind the assassins not to go too far.” This came just one day after an invasion of both the House and the Senate by the American Women Pickets. Both Gertrude Corless and Amelia Rosser are reported to have made cries from the galleries demanding freedom for Ireland before being removed and detained. Newspapers picked up on the event describing how the women had upset the dignity of Capitol Hill. In addition, Daniel T. Connell, director of the Friends of Irish Freedom, swiftly released a statement denouncing the activity of the women and removing the organisation from any association with them. It was now irrevocably evident that the American Women Pickets were acting independently. Their radicalism was causing a stir amongst the Irish and Irish-American males, who would have considered their methods as the more official route towards freedom for Ireland. The next major demonstration was chosen to coincide with the July 4 celebrations in the United States. Building upon the theme of American independence, Gertrude Corless and Kathleen O’Brennan led the protest at the Lafayette Square in close proximity to the grounds of the White House. Corless echoed the sentiments expressed by George Washington in his Farewell Address, placing emphasis on American involvement in European affairs. Following this, the protest proceeded to Washington’s home, Mount Vernon, where placards were raised and displayed. The Women Pickets also used this particular event to criticise the Friends of Irish Freedom following the dramatic scenes at the Republican Party convention in Chicago. “The politicians”, as they referred to the Friends as, were the antithesis of the republican values held by Washington and his revolutionary counterparts. At this point in time, the American Women Pickets appeared to be growing from strength to strength. The month ahead would see the movement reach its peak, however, political infighting would also come to the fore to the ultimate detriment of the true radicals.
Continuing the protests and demonstrations
In the months following the April pickets, another series of events and protests would be staged continuing the theme of highly publicised and dramatic protests. Taking inspiration from key events of the American Revolution, the American Women Pickets set about taking advantage of this aspect of American history in order to draw wider publicity and recognition for the cause of Ireland. Similarly, the strategy of ‘deliberate provocation’ continued to such an extent that pickets burned and tore apart a Union flag in two separate incidents during a demonstration held outside the U.S. Treasury Building in Washington D.C. on June 2. The event provided some of the most incendiary imagery of all the events throughout 1920 and was accompanied by a quote from one of the pickets involved, Mary Keena, who stated the scene was “just another little Boston tea party to remind the assassins not to go too far.” This came just one day after an invasion of both the House and the Senate by the American Women Pickets. Both Gertrude Corless and Amelia Rosser are reported to have made cries from the galleries demanding freedom for Ireland before being removed and detained. Newspapers picked up on the event describing how the women had upset the dignity of Capitol Hill. In addition, Daniel T. Connell, director of the Friends of Irish Freedom, swiftly released a statement denouncing the activity of the women and removing the organisation from any association with them. It was now irrevocably evident that the American Women Pickets were acting independently. Their radicalism was causing a stir amongst the Irish and Irish-American males, who would have considered their methods as the more official route towards freedom for Ireland. The next major demonstration was chosen to coincide with the July 4 celebrations in the United States. Building upon the theme of American independence, Gertrude Corless and Kathleen O’Brennan led the protest at the Lafayette Square in close proximity to the grounds of the White House. Corless echoed the sentiments expressed by George Washington in his Farewell Address, placing emphasis on American involvement in European affairs. Following this, the protest proceeded to Washington’s home, Mount Vernon, where placards were raised and displayed. The Women Pickets also used this particular event to criticise the Friends of Irish Freedom following the dramatic scenes at the Republican Party convention in Chicago. “The politicians”, as they referred to the Friends as, were the antithesis of the republican values held by Washington and his revolutionary counterparts. At this point in time, the American Women Pickets appeared to be growing from strength to strength. The month ahead would see the movement reach its peak, however, political infighting would also come to the fore to the ultimate detriment of the true radicals.
Deceit and Infiltration
By August 1920, it had become apparent that the upper echelons of Irish republicanism in America no longer wished to see a continuation of these independent radical displays of activism. A power struggle had emerged during the summer of 1920 between Éamon de Valera and Daniel Cohalan and it was felt that the movement need not suffer more public embarrassment, which is how many of the conservative male republicans viewed the activism of the American Women Pickets. Helen Golden, acting secretary and founding member of the Irish Progressive League (IPL), would play an instrumental role in the infiltration of the American Women Pickets and in doing so she would go onto undermine the leadership of the organisation during its most publicised and successful event of the year, the New York dock strike.
The seeds of the great dock strike, which began in late August 1920, were sown a month previous as Daniel Mannix, Irish-born Archbishop of Melbourne, prepared to set sail from Chelsea Piers in Manhattan and make a return to Ireland for a visit. Leading up to this event, Gertrude Kelly, with the assistance of IPL members Kathleen Sheehan and Margaret Warner, worked closely with Carmelite, Father John Flanagan, to stage a rally in support of Mannix ahead of his journey home. Mannix had spent the months of June and July travelling throughout the United States giving speeches publicly denouncing British rule in Ireland and, as a result, British authorities declared he would not be allowed entry into Ireland. Upon arriving at Pier 60 to board the Baltic, Mannix was greeted by a crowd of up to 15,000 people who had gathered to show support for the Archbishop. Amongst this crowd were a group of American Women Pickets who, much like they did in April, brought along vivid colours and their trademark blunt slogans on placards.
Tensions quickly mounted at the pier as the stewards department of the Baltic announced they would not leave New York as long as Mannix remained on board the ship as it departed. To further escalate this tension, the crew in the engine room of the Baltic retaliated and insisted they would not sail unless Mannix sailed with them. A raucous atmosphere began to develop as a stalemate between stewards and longshoremen ensued. Policemen gathered at the entrance to the pier in an attempt to control the crowd and maintain order. However, their lines were stretched too thin and their efforts to hold back the oncoming crowd, which included many American Women Pickets leading the charge, proved fruitless as the dock quickly filled with Mannix supporters. Amidst the manic chaos and fracas on the dock, de Valera appeared alongside Mannix on the upper deck of the Baltic and together they each addressed the crowd with typical charisma and passion. Eventually, as de Valera emphatically returned to the dock, the Baltic departed with Mannix aboard; his journey would not be without incident.
In spite of the dramatic events which occurred at the Chelsea Piers on the day of Mannix’s departure, he was subsequently arrested at sea before being released in Cornwall, England and given orders denying him the right to travel to Ireland, Liverpool, Manchester, or Glasgow. As reports of this filtered back to the States, it was accompanied by the news that Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney, had been arrested and begun a hunger strike. Yet again the women quickly became mobilised and sought to use this significant news as the basis to support another highly publicised and widespread campaign. However, amongst the planning and preparation for another picket line, Helen Golden identified an opportunity in which she could attempt to supplant the leadership of the American Women Pickets and bring it under the control of the wider republican movement. Whether she acted on her own initiative is unclear, but it is doubtful that the upper ranks of the IPL, which was heavily aligned on de Valera’s side of the republican dispute, were not supporting her overall objective.
On Monday 23 August, the American Women Pickets, organised and led by Gertrude Kelly, took to Whitehall Street, New York and began to protest outside the British Consulate. Yet again, the pickets caught the imagination of the media and newspapers across New York ran with front page headlines about the current demonstration. On the surface, the women appeared as one unified body, however, arriving dressed in the attire of an American Women Picket, Helen Golden had quietly placed herself amongst the pickets and began spreading word of a new protest which would take place at the Chelsea Piers on August 27. Upon being notified, Kelly confronted Golden and questioned her motives. The following day Gertrude Corless wrote to Golden informing her that the American Women Pickets would not be dictated to by any person or organisation. In her letter she directly named Harry Boland and the Irish Progressive League as likely conspirators in the most recent charade and firmly declared that the vitality of the picket movement strongly depended on its ability to remain “separate from the Irish mission”. The radical nature of the movement would come under severe threat but Golden responded to Corless and stated her intention was never to divert control of the movement towards male leadership. She similarly asserted that neither de Valera nor Boland would risk something as controversial as taking control of a self-proclaimed American organisation, quite ironic given their behaviour with the Friends of Irish Freedom throughout the whole of 1920. Nonetheless, Golden’s words were proven hollow as she advanced with her objective and organised a picket to take place at Manhattan’s Chelsea Piers.
To the shock of the radical women of the American Women Pickets, Golden went on to conduct a picket which would inspire an historic strike of British ships at the New York docks and one which would ripple throughout the United States. The initial picket line took place, significantly, at Pier 59 where the Baltic was returning to port. The poignancy of picketing the same ship which Mannix was arrested on undoubtedly had a marked effect on the success of the demonstration. As the ship arrived, one of the women pickets made a rousing speech to the crew and within minutes up to 150 stokers of the crew quit their work in a display of solidarity with Mannix and MacSwiney. Before long the strike had swept across much of the Chelsea Piers, with a steady stream of longshoremen joining the cause. Golden even succeeded in enlisting the African American dockworkers, through Universal Negro Improvement Association leader Marcus Garvey. This was a momentous achievement in itself as the Irish-American and African American dockworkers had been feuding for longer than fifty years. By 4:30pm, every single ship on Manhattan’s West Pier was tied up with the workers on strike and union leaders calling for boycott of British ships from Maine to Texas. The day was rounded off with a stirring victory rally held at the Lexington Opera House, which attracted a crowd twice the venue’s capacity. For three and a half hours the crowd heard speeches from a range of leading figures in the Irish independence movement before Frank P. Walsh finally introduced the women who had orchestrated the strike. It is unclear whether Kelly, Corless, or O’Brennan were among the women on stage but given the attempts made by Corless to distance the American Women Pickets from Golden’s picket and subsequent strike, it is unlikely.
Setting aside the political infighting which, indirectly, caused the strike, the ability of the women to conduct a picket that would inspire a strike lasting a number of weeks was still a significant achievement regardless of the specific people who organised it. It was a culmination of events littered throughout 1920 which demonstrated the influence and role women could play in garnering publicity and support for the Irish cause. However, such was the publicity surrounding the New York dock strike that it was near impossible for Corless or the radicals to maintain that it was not the American Women Pickets who were responsible. The media portrayal of the women as a unified front combined with Golden’s insistence that it was the American Women Pickets resulted in fading of the independent radical spirit of the organisation as a whole. As 1920 came to an end, much like they had done with the wider movement in America, de Valera and his followers had tightened their grip on the women’s movement and limited the ability of independent radical feminist republicans to operate freely as they had done for much of the year.
- Written by Conor Harte
- Images: Library of Congress
- References:
· Burns, Catherine M. “American Identity and the Transatlantic Irish Nationalist Movement, 1912-1925.” Ph.D. diss., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2011.
· Burns, Catherine M. “Kathleen O’Brennan and American Identity in the Transatlantic Irish Republican Movement.” In The Irish in the Atlantic World, edited by David T. Gleeson. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 2010
· Doyle, Joe. “Striking for Ireland on the New York Docks.” In The New York Irish, edited by Ronald H. Bayor and Timothy J. Meagher. Baltimore, Maryland and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996.
· Ebest, Sally-Barr. “Irish American Women: Forgotten First Wave Feminists.” Journal of Feminist Scholarship 3 (2012): 56-69.
· Eichacker, Joanne Mooney. Irish Republican Women in America: Lecture Tours, 1916-1925. Portland, Oregon: Irish Academic Press, 2003.
· McKillen, Elizabeth. “Divide Loyalties: Irish American Women Labor Leaders and the Irish Revolution, 1916-1923.” Éire-Ireland 51 3/4 (2016): 165-187.