Donegal's own computing pioneer Kay McNulty will feature in the exhibition.
Donegal woman Angela Byrne is making great strides in her role as DFAT Historian-in-Residence at EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum in Dublin.
The Culdaff woman is well on her way to accomplishing one of her main goals of the residency by shining a light on women in the Irish diaspora.
Byrne has curated ‘Blazing a Trail: Lives and Legacies of Irish Diaspora Women’ a new exhibition launching at EPIC from 12-25th November.
Dr Angela Byrne
‘Blazing a Trail’ celebrates the lives and legacies of 21 pioneering Irish diaspora women of the 19th and 20th centuries who blazed a trail in a wide range of fields.
Computer programming pioneer Kay McNulty from Creeslough is among the women featured, alongside designer and architect Eileen Gray, poet, mystic and trade unionist Eva Gore-Booth; tennis champion Mabel Cahill; medical missionary Sr Dr Maura Lynch; and ‘most dangerous woman in America’ Mother Jones.
The exhibition marks the centenary of partial women’s suffrage, the right of Irish and British women to vote in elections. Individual Irishwomen across the globe struggled for their own professional recognition, and for justice and equality for others.
On the project, Dr Angela Byrne, says: “This is the first time there has been an exhibition celebrating what Irish diaspora women have accomplished.
“I’m delighted to be bringing these stories to an audience both in Ireland and to the global Irish community.
“There’s a wider rediscovery and awareness of Irish women’s histories taking place right now which is very encouraging to see.”
‘Blazing a Trail’ is free and open to the public at EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum in the CHQ Building, Dublin from 12–25 November 2018 from 9.30am-6.30pm.
The exhibition will then travel to Irish embassies around the world over the coming years.
On November 24th and 25th, there will be a Story Collecting Weekend at EPIC to gather new and previously unheard stories of women migrants.
