Suffolk Honor\u2019s 100<\/span>th<\/span> Anniversary of the Easter Irish Uprising Monument unveiling, May 3rd\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By Maureen Rossi<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

On May 3<\/span>rd<\/span> Suffolk County will be unveiling a monument to commemorate the 100<\/span>th<\/span> Anniversary of the Easter Uprising in Ireland. \u00a0An enormous effort was put in by team of volunteers headed up by Chairperson Chris Thompson. \u00a0\u00a0However, reluctant to provide a photo, he says it\u2019s not about him. \u00a0Thompson gives all the credit and praise to Belfast born Legislator Kate Browning and the dozen plus volunteers on his committee.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>Thompson is President of the American Order of Hibernians (AOH) which covers Patchogue to Shirley. \u00a0He is also part of the Suffolk County AOH Board. \u00a0He said the monument that will call the Cohanlan Court Complex has been years in the making. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was approached by Kate Browning and this really was her idea, she reached out to all the different Irish organizations and said in a few years we\u2019re going to have the 100<\/span>th<\/span> anniversary something to be done,\u201d he shared.<\/span><\/p>\n

THE MONUMENT COMES TO FRUITION<\/span><\/h5>\n

<\/a>Browning\u2019s idea excited many of Suffolk\u2019s Irish American. \u00a0It is estimated that 24% of Suffolk\u2019s residents have some Irish heritage. \u00a0\u00a0Thompson of course is one of them. \u00a0\u201cWe got together all the Irish organizations, the Irish language groups, the pipe bands, all the AOHs in the county and we decided we were going to work very hard and make this idea a reality and we have a very dedicated group,\u201d Thompson shared.<\/span><\/p>\n

The group set up a non for profit and 501 3c status with the IRS held fundraisers for the cost of the monument. \u00a0\u00a0\u201cAs a group we designed what we wanted, we went before the County Legislature to get permission to use the land at the Cohanlan Court Complex and we also had to get the permission from the Office of Court Administration as they occupy the county land,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Suffolk County Legislature unanimously passed legislature for the monument to go forward after full approval of the Courts. \u00a0The group of volunteers then commissioned an artist in Ireland and an artist in Suffolk to collaborate and begin to design a fitting tribute to the sixteen men who were murdered by the British in the Easter Uprising. \u00a0A battle which commemorates the beginning of the End of English occupation for the long embattled and oppressed country. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA stone mason took our ideas and turned it into a monument, I\u2019ve seen pictures and its absolutely beautiful; it does service to those men who were executed,\u201d said Thompson. <\/span><\/p>\n

The monument will be unveiled May 3<\/span>rd<\/span> at noon at the Cohanlan Court Complex. \u00a0Many Irish organizations are slated to be present.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the years of planning and working toward the monument with his dedicated team of volunteers, little did Thompson know that all the while some firsthand history of the famed uprising was very close to him, right inside his own family. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy brother in -law\u2019s grandfather was also part of the rising in Dublin, he just happened to show me a diary his grandfather kept when he was in prison,\u201d said Thompson. \u00a0\u00a0For two years he and his committee were meeting and planning the monument and unbeknownst to him there was a fabulous treasure awaiting him. \u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe diary is filled stories from all the men and artwork and poetry, it\u2019s how they occupied their time,\u201d he shared. \u00a0He says that diary is an invaluable piece of the history of the Uprising and he was fascinated and taken by it\u2019s amazing contents.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSixteen men were executed from the uprising, those names appear on the monument, this is about them,\u201d he said. \u00a0\u00a0He added that the story of the Irish is an incredible one and many proud Irish Americans will certainly agree. \u00a0\u00a0Much of that history can be found at The American Irish Historical Society in New York. \u00a0\u00a0The website has extraordinary information as well. \u00a0Thompson said after the great Hunger, the Irish came over by the throngs and they became the laborers, then the union leaders, then, cops, the lawyers, the judges, politicians and one even made it to the highest office in the land \u2013 the late President John F. Kennedy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.<\/span><\/p>\n

John F. Kennedy<\/span><\/p>\n

From the American Irish History Society Website: \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>www.aihs.org<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The Society\u2019s library houses more than 10,000 volumes, the most complete private collection of Irish and American Irish history and literature in the United States. \u00a0The library features a temperature-controlled rare books room that holds another 1,000 volumes, and an unparalleled collection of newspapers and newsletters dating back to the late-18th century, and several early and mid-19th century newspapers, such as The Nation, The United Irishman, and the Dublin Penny Journal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Also housed in the library is the Society\u2019s unique collection of letters from Patrick Pearse and Charles Stewart Parnell, the irreplaceable archives of other societies and organizations, and the personal papers of leading Irish Americans like Daniel F. Cohalan.<\/span><\/p>\n

The collection is complemented by works of art from such noted Irish artists as Nathaniel Hone, John Faulkener, George Russell (A.E.), John Butler Yeats, Aloysius O\u2019Kelly, and Augustus St. Gaudens. \u00a0The Society also holds an extensive collection of Irish music, including a taped interview with Brendan Behan that became his Confessions of a Rebel.<\/span><\/p>\n

Following our re-opening in 2008, the Society has been working tirelessly to sort out and catalogue our library and archives. \u00a0At long last, we are happy to enable the public with a number of documents listing some of our more popular library & archive inquiries. <\/span><\/p>\n

The American Irish Historical Society celebrates many things including the rich cultural lives of the Irish, it\u2019s literature, dignitaries and scholars. \u00a0It celebrates what American Irish did to the building of this country and emanated from the Irish Need Not Apply Era \u2013 when Irish were seen as lower class in this country and store fronts, pubs and eateries has signs hanging that read IRISH NEED NOT APPLY. \u00a0\u00a0The new Suffolk monument celebrates the lives of those lost in the 1916 Easter Uprising and Irish Americans in Suffolk can take pride in the rich heritage and great success of their people.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Suffolk Honor\u2019s 100th Anniversary of the Easter Irish Uprising Monument unveiling, May 3rd\u00a0 By Maureen Rossi On May 3rd Suffolk County will be unveiling a monument to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Easter Uprising in Ireland. \u00a0An enormous effort was put in by team of volunteers headed up by Chairperson Chris Thompson. \u00a0\u00a0However, reluctant to provide a photo, he says it\u2019s not about him. \u00a0Thompson gives all the credit and praise to Belfast born Legislator Kate Browning and the dozen plus volunteers on his committee. Thompson is President of the American Order of Hibernians (AOH) which covers Patchogue to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4352,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[33,216,341,705],"tags":[498],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-4351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-town","category-giving-back","category-in-the-know","category-suffolk-county-news","tag-autism-speaks"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smithtowntodaynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/easter_uprising.jpg?fit=1024%2C685&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6dZB9-18b","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithtowntodaynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithtowntodaynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithtowntodaynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithtowntodaynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithtowntodaynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4351"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/smithtowntodaynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4355,"href":"https:\/\/smithtowntodaynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4351\/revisions\/4355"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithtowntodaynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithtowntodaynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithtowntodaynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithtowntodaynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4351"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithtowntodaynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=4351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}