Irish America

Irish America

Photo Album

Dorothea Lange’s Ireland

All photos © The Dorothea Lange Collection, The Oakland Museum of California, The City of Oakland. Gift of Paul S. Taylor.

March/April 1996

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When photographer Dorothea Lange, best known for her haunting series of images from the Depression era, chose Ireland as her subject in the 1950s, she was not very happy with the way the finished product was presented in Life magazine. She was, however, deeply pleased with the way her photographic series portrayed the people and the land of Ireland.  Lange had put pressure on … [Read more...] about Dorothea Lange’s Ireland

Photo Album: “Give Me a Wee Step”

By Maureen Foster

Winter 2024

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In this photograph taken in 1925, my mother Kathleen (far left), her mother and father Sam and Ellen Bell, and 10 other siblings pose as they leave their home in Crossgar, County Down. They journeyed to the United States and settled in Chicago, where, after only four years, my granddad died, leaving Grandma Ellen to raise a family of 11. Ellen was a woman of tremendous faith … [Read more...] about Photo Album: “Give Me a Wee Step”

Jack Moran on Tar Beach

Text and photos submitted by Margaret "Peggy" Phelan of Willingboro, New Jersey. Originally published in
June / July 2010 , republished in Fall 2024

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My father Jack Moran arrived in New York on April 5th, 1923. He was from Athea, a small village in County of Limerick. He loved New York. And Brooklyn. My mother was born in Kerry but raised in Limerick but she didn’t meet my father until she came to the States in 1927.  The Irish in New York would all get together for parties and they met at one of those parties. My mother … [Read more...] about Jack Moran on Tar Beach

Photo Album: The Noone Family 1972

By Luke B. Noone

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Luke emigrated from Curramaeigh, Kilkerrin, Co. Galway in 1922 at 20 years of age. He met and courted Mary Ellen Doherty from Fiddane, Kilkerrin, Co. Galway, who came to the U.S. in 1924. Luke and Mary Ellen married in 1927 and had five children: Luke B., Gerard, Eileen, Theresea, John and Richard. Mary Ellen worked as a domestic prior to her marriage. Luke found work as a … [Read more...] about Photo Album: The Noone Family 1972

Photo Album: Keeper of the Light

By John R. Duffy
Spring 2023

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I was named after my paternal grandfather John P. Duffy. J.P., ‘Jack’ to his wife, Nora (Walsh), who hailed from Clare Island, County Mayo, where his father was the keeper of the light. J.P. was the 14th child and left Clare Island after finishing eighth grade. The world would teach him lessons as there would be no further formal schooling for him. J.P., as a young teenager, … [Read more...] about Photo Album: Keeper of the Light