This year Irish America celebrates its tenth year. And it seems somehow fitting that the magazine, whose motto Mortas Cine stands for Pride in our Heritage, should be celebrating such a happy occasion in the same year that marks the 150th anniversary of the Famine.
For this magazine, especially this special Top 100 issue, pays tribute to the success of the Irish in America. Yet it gives one pause to reflect on those Famine Irish. In their wildest imagination I’m sure they would not have dreamed that the Irish would climb to the great heights — in just a few short generations — that the honored figures in these pages have attained.
It is both ironic and appropriate that the prestigious setting we have chosen to present our Top 100 Awards, Tavern on the Green, located in New York’s Central Park, is in sight of what was once the largest Irish shanty town in America.
Let it be a testament to what we as a people have overcome, and look back not with bitterness on those years – the darkest in Ireland’s history. Let us look at what sprang forth from that darkness.
As one Orestes Brownson wrote in the Quarterly Review (1845) “Out of these narrow lanes, blind courts, dirty streets, damp cellars, and suffocating garrets will come forth some of the noblest sons of our country, whom she will delight to own and honor.”
How right he was. Out of the wretchedness of those Famine Irish grew the greatest community organization of a people in the history of the United States. The schools, hospitals and political clubs, not to mention organized labor, that came out of their struggle would leave their mark on this country forever.
As Rose Kennedy, the daughter of the first Irish-American congressman from Boston, and the mother of the first Catholic president wrote of her own Irish ancestors in her book Times to Remember: “They were poor and disadvantaged through no fault of their own, but who had the imagination, the resolve, the intelligence, and the energy to seek a newer, better world for themselves and their families. And had the willingness to work as hard as they had to, and suffer whatever had to be suffered and to look to the future and plan for whatever could be planned, and to seize gratefully on any piece of good luck that came their way. If none came, to look for it, to look for opportunity.”
That is the spirit which we celebrate in this issue, in this year that begins the 150th anniversary of the Famine.
Rose Kennedy wrote those words so that her grandchildren and great-grandchildren might know from where they came and how they happened to be here. So too, must we pass that heritage on to our children, for it is truly an inspiring, triumphant history that we have to be proud of.
Today Irish Americans are well-represented and respected in every major aspect of American life, but the one thing that sets them apart is their interest and commitment to Ireland. Just as in past generations when the struggle for home rule was bolstered by efforts from the Irish in America, in this issue we pay particular attention to those who have worked tirelessly on advancing the cause of peace in Northern Ireland.
There is no question of Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith’s contribution. Especially during the key battle over the visa for Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams, when she played a vital role in convincing the U.S. government that granting him a visa would enormously help the peace process.
We are proud to honor her as our “Irish American of the Year.” Her ability to reach out to those of both traditions in Ireland has proved her to be a “diplomat” in the very best sense of the word.
So, again let us celebrate our successes, and if today the Irish American community is 44 million strong and encompasses those from many different walks of life, persuasions and opinions, let us embrace those differences-let us find each other again in our common past.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the March/April 1995 issue of Irish America. ⬥
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