We all know he didn’t actually perform hip hop on his way to the top, but how much has the hit musical Hamilton distorted our view of one of the founding fathers of America’s (imperilled?) democracy? Be in the room where it happens when Dr. Liam McNiffe offers his own take on the real Alexander Hamilton and, among others, the charismatic Irish-born spy Hercules Mulligan.

Petitioning the court system and military service in the Revolutionary War were among the liberation strategies used by enslaved individuals to attempt to secure their freedom.  This talk will discuss those strategies, as well as leading African American intellectual and political voices during the Founding Era’s early years.

America’s most divisive war of the 20^th century led to widespread anti-war demonstrations, violent clashes between protesters and police, and the demonization of peace activists as unpatriotic. With the collapse of the Democratic Party’s political dominance, the war contributed to the rise of the Right, reconfigured the meaning of patriotism, and proved the breeding ground for today’s political extremism.

While Irish involvement in the US War of Independence was significant it paled by comparison with the commitment of the Irish diaspora in the USA to that country’s tragic Civil War. The Irish-born cohort in the Union army was at least 180,000 and 20,000 joined the Confederate army. No one knows more about Green, Blue and Grey than Damian Shiels, author of The Irish in the American Civil War, The Forgotten Irish: Irish Emigrant Experiences in America and Green and Blue: Irish Americans and the Union Military 1861-1865.

The POW/MIA flag flies over all US government buildings. It is the emblem of a pernicious myth – the conviction that at the end of the Vietnam War the U.S. abandoned thousands of its own to the enemy. This conspiracy theory, Robbyn Swan (The Eleventh Day: The Full Story of 9/11 & Osama bin Laden) will argue, fed a culture war that shapes a suspicious, cynical and divided U.S. today. Trump’s MAGA is a direct consequence of a collective failure to rescue history from the grasp of scoundrels. 

This insightful documentary follows Green Party leader, Minister Eamon Ryan during his final 18 months in government as he advocates globally for climate justice while battling public resistance, online abuse and far-right pushback to the Irish Green’s ambitious climate plans at home. Interwoven is his tender relationship with his autistic son, Tommy, reflecting his persistence, empathy, and belief that lasting change - whether in politics or family - requires patience and hope. Running Time: 1h 38m, followed by a Q&A with Neasa Ní Chianáin & David Rane.