Irish America

Irish America

March 1991

Top of the Irish: Michael J. Roarty

By John McGuire

March 1991

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Lapsing into a hushed brogue, Michael John Roarty told of the telephone call he received one day from the president of Stonehill College, a small Catholic school south of Boston."He had a very thick brogue,and he was asking that I help out the school with its fundraiser," said Roarty, who is a magical story teller. "I was flabbergasted. I had to tell him, 'Father, I don't know … [Read more...] about Top of the Irish: Michael J. Roarty

Hibernia | Irish in the Civil War

By Jack McCormack

March 1991

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The March-April issue of Civil War magazine is devoted to examining the role of the Irish in the War Between the States. This fact comes on the heels of the widely acclaimed Public Broadcasting System's eleven-hour series "The Civil War," which virtually ignored the Irish contributions to both sides in America's most famous conflict. PBS mentioned the Irish for about fifteen … [Read more...] about Hibernia | Irish in the Civil War

Hibernia | Who Wrote “Danny Boy”?

By Peter Garland

March 1991

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The words to perhaps the most famous of all Irish songs, "Danny Boy," were actually written by an Englishman named Frederick E. Weatherley, a leading barrister and lyricist of his day. The tune of this song is Irish-the "Londonderry Air," first seen in print in 1855 after Miss Jane Ross of Limavady, a village east of Derry, in Northern Ireland, had taken it down from a peasant … [Read more...] about Hibernia | Who Wrote “Danny Boy”?

Back to the Future

By Irish America Staff

March 1991

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In the anteroom to the office of the Mayor of Chicago there is an impressive photographic display of portraits of all the Chicago mayors since politics began. It follows the pattern of the political destiny of ethnic America but only to a point. After all this is Chicago, the city once characterized crudely as "owned by the Jews, lived in by the Blacks and run by the Irish," … [Read more...] about Back to the Future

“If You Can’t Stand Up – Stand Out”

By Irish America Staff

March 1991

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It is a Manhattan Irish bar late at night. Chris O'Donoghue of WWOR Channel 9 wheels into the bar with a group of friends. Heads swivel, as one of the best-known faces in the New York area passes. He knows it is only a matter of time. And it is. A large man, the map of Ireland on his face, comes lumbering down the bar. "Chrisss," he slurs, assuming familiarity with the face he … [Read more...] about “If You Can’t Stand Up – Stand Out”