I remember the day I first learned of the Famine —walking home from school afterwards, through the miles of country roads bordered by the lush green fields of rich Tipperary farmland – looking at the grass and thinking of how many had died with green stains on their mouths from eating it in a last faint effort to survive.
I still remember that day so clearly now all those years later. If there ever was a traumatic event in my young life, that was it. It was to be forever printed on my memory and oft-times growing-up I would wonder what happened to the thousands who fled on the “coffin ships” to America.
I think it is a shame that Irish American history is not taught in the schools in Ireland, that children aren’t told of how the Irish triumphed in their new land. Irish history is so full of tragedy. Of battles lost, of cruel deceptions and betrayals and Cromwellian horrors. Not the “stuff that dreams are made on.”
The history of the Irish in America is a different story. Sure they had their tragedies, their “No Irish Need Apply” times, but everywhere there are signs of how the Irish prospered in their adopted country. They spread like a great river across America, settling the plains in Nebraska, panning for gold in California and Alaska, making inroads into politics, forming unions and building the railroads. These are tales that fire the imagination. This is a country in which dreams can come true.
There is a famine—an economic famine, that is going on in Ireland, that still forces many thousands of young Irish to seek a better life in this country. Unfortunately, because of restrictive immigration laws, an enormous number of them cannot work legally and are forced to take the most menial jobs, but now thanks to a new bill many of them will become eligible for the prized “green-card,” but with one stipulation.
They must have an offer of employment from an American firm accompanying their application, and this, dear reader, is where you come in. If you feel that you or your company can come up with such an offer, please contact your local branch of the Irish Immigration Reform Movement.
On another note, we have many new readers this month, thanks to a very successful direct-mail campaign. And as editor I would like to welcome you all to the family of Irish America.
When we embarked on this adventure some six years ago, the idea was to explore who you are, how you survived, and what you have achieved. And on the other side of that, to make an effort to bring you up to date on Ireland today. In this issue, for instance, we bring you a feature on the controversy over The Burren, a wild region in County Clare that harbors many treasures of Ireland’s ancient past-hundred of ruins, megalithic tombs and hillforts—in tough economic times should part of it be destroyed to make way for tourist facilities?
Those ancient people of Ireland, the Celts, to which many of you are genetically linked, were a fascinating race who left behind many beautiful artifacts, as an exhibition in Venice —the largest of its kind to date— attests to, and we are pleased to be able to bring you a report from Italy.
Our lead feature this month is on actress Anjelica Huston whose great-grandparents were born in 1848, at the end of the famine. The saga of the Hustons is an immigrant dream-come-true story. Grandfather Walter, born in Toronto, became an actor of considerable note. His son John, became a famous director-screenwriter, under whose direction both father and daughter won Oscars.
John Huston reversed the pattern of immigration and returned to live in Ireland and become an Irish citizen. In this issue Anjelica talks about that and what Ireland means to her.
To all you new readers, welcome again, we hope you will be around for many years. And to all our old friends we hope you had a wonderful summer. Happy reading.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the September 1991 issue of Irish America. ♦
Leave a Reply