By Turlough McConnell
The President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins paid tribute to the First Nations of Canada and Native Americans for their contributions to Irish Famine relief in 1847 at the National Famine Commemoration Day ceremony held in Kilmallock, County Limerick, on May 17th.
Speaking at the event, he acknowledged donations from the Choctaws and Cherokees in the United States “and the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Huron-Wendat indigenous communities in Canada.”
President Higgins noted that “recent research from Dr. Jason King of the Irish Heritage Trust, and from Professor Mark McGowan of the University of Toronto has unearthed writings from individuals in the First Nations of Canada. These include handwritten notes from the mid-1840s in which they write of how very sorry they are that the children of the “Great Mother,” who they consider their brothers and sisters in Ireland, are suffering. Universally, they are distressed and empathetic, writing of how they would have given more money, but they themselves are poor.”
“These are people who had virtually nothing,” he continued, “and yet were willing to forego what little they had, having borne similar pain themselves in their own past.”
These handwritten notes offering aid for famine stricken Ireland from the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Huron-Wendat First Nations in Canada can be found in the Honouring Indigenous Aid virtual exhibit hosted by the National Famine Museum, Strokestown Park: Honouring Indigenous Aid – Strokestown Park.
The Irish Heritage Trust and National Famine Museum, Strokestown Park have released an educational video entitled Sharing Lands: Choctaw Irish Friendship and The Gift to mark National Famine Commemoration Day. Filmed on location in the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Sharing Lands explores the lasting friendship that was forged between the Choctaw and the Irish as memorialized in works of art, including Samuel Stitt’s Eternal Heart and Brendan O’Neill’s The Gift sculptures that were unveiled at the Choctaw Cultural Center and the National Famine Museum, Strokestown Park. Members of the Choctaw Nation reflect on the enduring bonds that they have formed with the Irish and legacy of their ancestors’ generosity.
“The gift of 1847 is a really special moment between Choctaw and Irish people”, said Claire Green Young, Public Arts Manager of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and former curator of the Choctaw Cultural Center. “It was a very unexpected moment,” she adds, “because only a decade prior to that, Choctaw people had walked the Trail of Tears to Indian Territory, or what is now Oklahoma. For them to gather monetary funds for Irish people who were facing the Famine while grappling with their own displacement attests to the generosity of our nation.”
“We are celebrating the unique and very important bond that the Choctaw and the Irish share,” said Sandy Vigil, Director of Education at the Choctaw Cultural Center. “We had just finished coming over on the Trail of Tears ourselves. We had suffered many of the same things that the Irish had suffered: including colonization, being pushed out of our homelands, and even though we were still suffering and still recovering from this trauma, a group of Choctaws came together and they donated $170 to our Irish friends.”
“That started a lifelong friendship,” she suggested. “Our friendship has been expressed with the Eternal Heart memorial and Brendan O’Neill’s The Gift that we have in the Choctaw Cultural Center and the National Famine Museum in Ireland. All of these different things that the Irish have given back not just to us, but to other tribes as well.”
“My connection to the Choctaw Irish friendship is very personal, because I am both Choctaw and Irish,” she added. “There is a very strong likelihood that if the Choctaw had not gathered the $170 to donate during the Potato Famine, I probably would not be here today.”
“We have had a relationship with the Irish people since 1847,” said Cheyhoma Dugger, Director of Development and Membership at the Choctaw Cultural Center. “There are so many interactions that we have had with the Irish people since then. Now that Brendan O’Neill’s sister sculpture of The Gift is both here and in the National Famine Museum in Ireland, we are delighted to continue that connection. It is definitely a story worth telling.”
Sharing Lands: Choctaw Irish Friendship and The Gift was created by the Irish Heritage Trust and National Famine Museum, Strokestown Park in collaboration with the Sharing Lands: Reconciliation, Recognition & Reciprocity project. It is funded by the Government of Ireland Emigrant Support Programme.
Leave a Reply