Patrick Ford and his pursuit of social justice

Abstract

A handful of historians have questioned traditional interpretations of Irish-American nationalism and its role within the radical climate of nineteenth-century America. This select group has invited others to re-examine Irish-American reformism after 1882, in light of the ideology possessed by radicals of this age, certain that such an analysis will dispel the myth that the radicalism and working-class life of Irish-Americans prior to the 1880's was simply a diversion in a larger effort to obtain middle-class respectability.

In response to this invitation, I have embarked on a case study of Patrick Ford, editor and proprietor of the Irish World from 1870 until his death in 1913. Ford not only embodied the radical elements of the abolitionist movement, but also those of the Irish nationalist, labor, and anti-imperialist movements. The role played by Ford within each of these causes reveals an underlying social philosophy consistent with that of the anti-slavery ideology which had originated in the 1830's.

To narrow the scope of this study and to avoid reiterating previous scholarship on the Irish-American radicalism of the 1870's. I have focused on Ford's life and writings in the years subsequent to 1886 - the year of Ford's turning point. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)