As this April marks the centennial of the Easter Rising, which helped usher in the Irish Free State (1922), the Museum is pleased to present this timely lecture and welcome three special guest speakers.

Dean Robinson will provide an overview of the week-long Rising–the Irish leaders, the Proclamation, the casualties and the British treatment of the prisoners. Don Deignan will then consider whether the Rising had any chance of success and whether Patrick Pearse sought victory over the English or whether he wanted to create martyrs for the Irish cause. John Quinn will look at the 1919 visit to Newport by Eamon de Valera and Harry Boland, who had been sentenced to death for their role in the Rising but were given reprieves. Q&A to follow the presentations.

DONALD D. DEIGNAN is a professional historian and writer. After earning his M.A. and Ph.D. in History from Brown University, he taught for several years at R.I. College and then worked for more than a decade at various agencies of state government in a variety of administrative capacities. In 1997 along with his R.I. College classmate and friend, Dr. Scott Molloy, he was a founding member of the R.I. Irish Famine Memorial Committee, Inc. Since June 2010 he has served as President of that organization. JOHN F. QUINN received his Ph.D. in history from Notre Dame. He has been professor of history with Salve Regina University since 1992 and is History Department Chair. A prolific writer, Dr. Quinn is the author of numerous articles, as well as the book Father Mathew’s Crusade: Temperance in Nineteenth Century Ireland and Irish-America (U. of Mass. Press, 2002). His interests include Irish America, Modern Ireland, and American Religion and Ethnicity. Dr. Quinn’s professional memberships include American Catholic Historical Association, American Conference on Irish Studies, Irish American Cultural Institute, and Society of Catholic Social Scientists. DEAN G. ROBINSON of Barrington, R.I. is an attorney in private practice. He is a member of the 1916 Centennial Remembrance Committee of R.I. and a member of the Museum of Newport Irish History. He is also a member of the Dennis E. Collins Division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians where he is on the Irish History Committee. Dean has presented numerous talks on Irish history and has traveled extensively in Ireland.