The Fighting Irish: : Ireland & The American Revolution (online)

Men of Irish heritage played crucial roles in fighting the American Revolution, siding with the patriots against the British Army in overwhelming numbers. In this evening program, the English-born but American-trained historian Richard Bell explores the Revolution from the perspective of the Irish and their descendants in America. Drawing on the latest scholarship, Bell reconstructs the history of English and Irish antagonism, the role of Roman Catholic religious faith in decisions about loyalty and affiliation, and the political and economic impact of the American Revolution on Ireland itself. 

Richard Bell is Professor of History at the University of Maryland and author of the book Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and their Astonishing Odyssey Home which was a finalist for the George Washington Prize and the Harriet Tubman Prize. 

He is an Andrew Carnegie Fellow (2021-2023) and has held research fellowships at more than two dozen libraries and institutes including residencies at the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Abolition, and Resistance at Yale University and the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress. His work has also been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Dr. Bell serves as a fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a trustee of the Maryland Center for History and Culture, an elected member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and as a board member of the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System Foundation.

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