Roots of an Irish Activist
Rich Winkel
** Topic: Afro-Irish Activist Speaks **
** Written 11:56 am May 15, 1992 by emcelroy in cdp:gen.women **
The Roots of an Irish Activist
by James J. Smith
from the Irish Echo (New York)
May 13-19, 1992
ROXBURY, Mass.---Jean McGuire describes herself as an American
activist of African and Irish decent. Some Boston residents know
her as a former Boston school committee member and current
director of Roxbury's Metropolitan Council for Educational
Opportunity. Others know her as an outspoken critic of human
rights violations, whether they occur in American cities or on
the streets of Northern Ireland.
"My great-grandparents came from Cork and settled in
Charlestown," McGuire said in a recent interview at her home in
Roxbury. "My grandmother Julia Lenihan, married William Dennis
Mitchell, a black slave born on a Virginia plantation in 1862."
With roots both in Africa and Ireland, the 61 year old
McGuire's civil rights involvement began at an early age. "My dad
was an Episcopal minister and very active in the NAACP while
working to end discrimination against blacks," she said. "I was 3
years old on my daddy's back carrying a sign that said 'Don't Buy
Where You Can't Work.' He and five other ministers were
protesting outside a 5 & 10 store in Cambridge which wouldn't
hire blacks. My daddy believed very strongly about
discrimination.
Growing up during an era of legal segregation, McGuire and
her large family occasionally slept in the car when traveling
because blacks were often denied accommodations at motels. Her
family moved frequently and settled in Washington, D.C. during WW
2. McGuire was graduated from Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in
1948. She enrolled at Howard University the next year, where she
witnessed what she described as the governmental persecution of a
famous black poet.
"Langston Hughes was subpoenaed before the House Un-American
Activities Committee because he was writing poems about ending
segregation," McGuire said. "He was labeled a Communist because
he spoke out about the treatment of blacks as second class
citizens. Our English teachers at Howard took their classes to
Congress. We packed the galleries in support of Hughes."
McGuire also took part in demonstrations with fellow
students outside D.C. bus stations which had segregated lines and
bathrooms for 'white ladies' and 'colored women'. "Black students
couldn't go into restaurants, theaters--I couldn't try a hat on
in a store," she said.
McGuire left Howard University in her junior year and
eventually became a member of the first graduating class of State
College of Boston in 1961. She earned a masters degree in
education and counseling from Tufts University in 1963, and in
1973 became director of MET-CO, a program designed to ensure
equality in educational opportunity. Married with two children,
she has also raised 20 foster children.
Irish Activism
McGuire's activism over the years, although primarily geared
toward helping young black people gain equal opportunities, has
extended in recent years to speaking out about oppression in
Northern Ireland.
"Growing up, my family always talked about our Irishness,"
she said. "I became an avid reader of black literature and
journals about oppression and struggle, and I began to notice
that there were references in the literature to Northern Ireland.
Over time I realized that the same kind of discrimination that my
family experienced while growing up was happening now in Northern
Ireland."
In January of this year McGuire spoke on Boston Common at a
Bloody Sunday commemoration sponsored by the American Irish
Political Education Committee. In her address she condemned the
"British government's institutional structure of built-in
discrimination against Catholics in Northern Ireland," likening
it to discrimination that blacks have endured for years.
"A lot of blacks can relate to what's going on over there,"
McGuire said in her interview. "When we hear about the police and
security forces arresting, harassing and killing Catholic youths,
we say, 'Oh yeah, we can relate to that'. The same structures of
discrimination and oppression that existed in this country are in
place today in Northern Ireland."
McGuire has thousands of books, tapes, and magazines in her
family library about human rights issues throughout the world. A
vocal proponent of implementation of the MacBride Principles in
Northern Ireland, McGuire likens efforts to suppress
implementation of those principles to similar attempts made
elsewhere in the world.
"We had the same kind of activities in SOuth Africa, with
people going around trying to water down the Sullivan Principles
and offering specious arguments about why they're not necessary,"
she said. "Of course, those who oppose anti-discrimination laws
are pretty comfortable themselves with the status quo--they're
not living in the cage that the oppressed are."
Pointing to a four volume "Documented History of the NEgro
People," McGuire said, "Start reading that and, honest to God,
you'll think you're reading about Northern Ireland."
McGuire is a strong believer in community activism and
networking. "I'm an educator, but I'm always learning from all
kinds of people. People should get involved. We have a lot we can
learn from one another."
for more info on ireland in peacenet, see reg.ireland.
** End of text from cdp:gen.women **