The Famine changed Ireland forever. After the famine the social structure changed to reflect the devastation caused by the famine and the need to survive. Emigration drained the country of its young men and women and did not abate until the 1920’s and was not reversed until the 1990’s.

The search for a free and Independent Ireland continued. The radicals republicans and nationalists formed the Fenian movement; constitutional nationalists formed the Home Rule movement; the Land Wars took on a new importance with the understanding of the clear link between famine and landlordism; and, then out of the ashes arose a Gaelic Revival that sought to promote the ancient history of Ireland, its laws, culture and language as an antidote to the Anglicization of Ireland.

This four week course will explore these events in depth so that it is then possible to understand the Ireland that then produced, in a ten year period, a Rebellion, A war of Independence, A Civil War, and a partitioned Ireland. These topics will form the basis of the autumn and winter lecture series.

This class meets in the Photography & Digital Arts Studio on the lower level of the Education Wing.