How the 1916 commemorations helped people connect on a personal level. “Everything is repeated, in a circle. History is a master because it teaches us that it doesn’t exist. It’s the permutations that matter.” - Umberto Eco, Foucault's Pendulum We have had much to celebrate this year. Commemoration of the 1916 Easter Rising had been anticipated for so long that when it … [Read more...] about 2016: Reflections on a Centenary
History Archives
Continuity and Change: The Irish Role in American Politics
For the second straight White House election, the Democratic and Republican candidates for vice president grew up in strong Irish American and Catholic families. Eyebrow-arching in itself, the fact that these four figures share a similar heritage helps illustrate what you might call the Irish political diaspora within the U.S. From the time of the Great Hunger through the early … [Read more...] about Continuity and Change: The Irish Role in American Politics
The Mother of Orphans
“She was a mother to the motherless; she was a friend to those who had no friends; she had wisdom greater than schools can teach; we will not let her memory go.” Sara Cone Bryant, from "Margaret of New Orleans," in Stories to Tell Children(Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1908) There’s a small park in New Orleans, on the corner of Camp and Prytania Streets, which exists … [Read more...] about The Mother of Orphans
Roots:
The Unrelated Ryan Girls
Whether it’s stomping the boards on Broadway or on Hollywood’s silver screen, these girls all share a love of performance. Perhaps it’s in the DNA?
Thinking about writing an article for Irish America, I recalled the childhood games my mother and I would play on long car rips. We named state capitals, movie titles and how many famous people we could list with the same last … [Read more...] about Roots:
The Unrelated Ryan Girls
The Bonds of a Nation,
100 Years On
With the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising upon us, a curious piece of memorabilia printed 150 years ago reminds us that the Rising was not the only bid for Irish independence. In the possession of Patrick Doherty, a director in the state comptroller’s office for New York, is a Fenian bond dating from 1866. Doherty is an avid collector of Irish artifacts and a well informed … [Read more...] about The Bonds of a Nation,
100 Years On