From ‘Bridgets’ to business magnates: a celebration of 300 years of Irish women in America

The Royal Irish Academy

Ireland's Ambassador to the United States, Daniel Mulhall, invites you to the American launch of 'Irish Lives in America' (Royal Irish Academy, 2021), a St Brigid’s Day celebration of the lives and achievements of Irish women who made America their home over the last 300 years. We'll meet characters such as Margaret Maher, one of the multitude of 'Bridgets' in America (a collective name given to Irish domestic servants) who is credited with preserving the poetry of Emily Dickinson; Belinda Mulrooney, a Sligo native who became the richest woman in the Klondike, ran her own bank, then lost it all; Gertrude Brice Kelly, a respected New York surgeon and political radical calling for an independent Ireland; Kay McNulty, a pioneering ‘human computer’ whose work went unrecognized for many years, and many other extraordinary women who made their mark on America. Joining the Ambassador in conversation are Liz Evers and Niav Gallagher, editors of 'Irish Lives in America'. The book is available in all good bookshops or online at https://www.ria.ie/irish-lives-america