Kieran O’Keefe of Lyon College discusses his new book that focuses our attention on Loyalists living in New York’s Hudson Valley during the Revolution, an epicenter where neighbor fought neighbor, brother fought brother, and fathers fought sons. Through an analysis of the effects of violence on Loyalist communities—which included white, Black, and Native peoples—this talk reveals the brutal reality of war by examining its enduring psychological and social legacies, providing a nuanced understanding of the Revolution’s human cost and how suffering became central to how Loyalists came to define themselves and their ordeal. This program accompanies our current exhibition, Voices of Revolution, on view through January 10, 2027.
About the Speaker:
Kieran O’Keefe, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of history at Lyon College, where he teaches a broad range of courses on American history. He earned his Ph.D. in 2021 right down the street at George Washington University, and his research focuses on early American history, particularly the American Revolution. In addition to his newest book, Suffering for the Crown, Dr. O’keefe has published articles in several academic journals, including Early American Studies, New York History, Journal of Religious History, Journal of the American Revolution, The International History Review, and Hudson River Valley Review. Throughout his career, he has been the recipient of many awards and honors, including the David Center for the American Revolution Fellowship at the American Philosophical Society, the Society of the Cincinnati Dissertation Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania’s McNeil Center for Early American Studies, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History Research Fellowship, a New York Historical Society research fellowship, and last but certainly not least, the Keith Armistead Carr Fellowship here at the American Revolution Institute in 2019. Dr. O’Keefe also served as a historical consultant to the development of our current exhibition.