LECTURE: “Whiteboys, Steelboys and the Age of the American Revolution”

LECTURE: "Whiteboys, Steelboys and the Age of the American Revolution.”

Presented by Kevin J. Murphy, Ph.D., McCormick Center Postdoctoral Fellow in Revolutionary Era Studies | Siena University

Beginning in the 1760s, groups known as the Whiteboys and Steelboys banded together to oppose economic injustice in Ireland. At the same time, American Colonists were resisting the British government in their own way, leading to the American Revolution. These movements are generally regarded as different and entirely separate, yet they had important things in common. Both in Ireland and America, people bound each other through oaths to oppose an unfair system, and although they failed in Ireland, many of those people later came to America to participate directly in the American Revolution.

Discussing these two groups together shows us the connection between Ireland and America in the Eighteenth Century.

This is a FREE event. Beverages will be served.