After 800 years of colonial rule, Ireland finally got conditional freedom and fell victim to the British Empire’s deadliest legacy, partition. In the six northern counties, bigotry and resentment simmered over the years until it broke wide open in 1968. Then along came Bernadette.In the beginning, there was a single face that symbolized the conflict, a passionate college … [Read more...] about Wild Irish Women: Bernadette
Wild Irish Women
The Star of County Down
By Rosemary Rogers
‘In Banbridge Town in the County Down One morning last July, From a boreen green came a sweet colleen, And she smiled as she passed me by.'What is absolutely, positively true about Greer Garson is that she was born Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson to George and Nina Garson. From the beginning of her acting career until her death in 1996, she maintained her birthplace was Belfast … [Read more...] about The Star of County Down
The Lady From Chicago & The Pound Note
By Rosemary Rogers Fall 2022
Her likeness appears on a banknote and in portraits by famous artists.Who was Lady LaveryWomen rarely have their faces on currency. Except, of course, for the recently departed Queen Elizabeth II who was on the currency of Great Britain and her colonies for over 70 years and, until recently, showed no sign of retiring or expiring. In 1928, Ireland, too, cast a woman on the … [Read more...] about The Lady From Chicago & The Pound Note
Constance Smith: A Hollywood Tragedy
By Rosemary Rogers
“Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.” Maybe she had too many gifts: she was a great beauty with a quick intellect; she could act, sing and, with little effort, was “discovered” and groomed for Hollywood stardom. In the early 1950s, she was a newcomer at 20th Century Fox, deemed so promising, she landed a plum showcase – a presenter at the 1952 Oscar … [Read more...] about Constance Smith: A Hollywood Tragedy
Wild Irish Women: Leonora O’Reilly
By Rosemary Rogers
Summer 2021
“I am not going to give you any taffy!”The charismatic and powerful public speaker who pushed for equal pay for equal work, better labor standards, and overall empowerment for women is profiled by Rosemary Rogers.Leonora O’Reilly was born in 1870 to parents driven out of Ireland by the potato famine only to live in poverty in New York’s Lower East Side. Her father and brother … [Read more...] about Wild Irish Women: Leonora O’Reilly