irishmontana

It is not only our duty to America, but also to Ireland. We could not hope to succeed in our effort to make Ireland a Republic without the moral and material support of the liberty-loving citizens of these United States.

∼  Thomas Francis Meagher ∽

Most of us have been raised with the story of ‘How the Irish Built America,’ what we have not been told is the story of ‘How the Irish in America Helped to Rebuild Ireland.’ These documentaries are designed to play a small part in telling this story. Their focus will be on the Irish of the West, and of Montana in particular. Montana is home to Butte and Anaconda, which were numbered among the five most important strongholds of Irish American nationalism in the time. The story will be told through the lives of four extraordinary Irishmen. The first documentary examines Irish American political nationalism as told through the life of Thomas Francis Meagher, Irish nationalist and Territorial Governor of Montana. The second film treats of Irish economic nationalism and the life of Marcus Daly. The third and final documentary concentrates on Irish cultural nationalism as experienced in the lives of James Moriarty and Seán Ó Suillivan, both of whom contributed so much to the movement to restore Irish Gaelic culture.