Irish America

Irish America

Black Abolitionists

Ira Aldridge: An ‘AFRICAN ROSCIUS’ in Ireland

By Christine Kinealy
IA Newsletter October 30, 2021

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If you had been in London on 15 May 1835, you could have heard Daniel O’Connell, Ireland’s Liberator, speak at a large Anti-Slavery meeting in the prestigious Exeter Hall. O’Connell, the hero of Catholic Emancipation, had established himself as the leading transatlantic opponent of enslavement and as a thorn in the side of American enslavers. But if you had been almost 300 … [Read more...] about Ira Aldridge: An ‘AFRICAN ROSCIUS’ in Ireland

Ira Aldridge: African Tragedian in Ireland

IA Newsletter, May 13, 2023

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The National Famine Museum, Strokestown Park, and Irish Heritage Trust have released Ira Aldridge: Black Tragedian in Ireland in collaboration with Professor Christine Kinealy from the African American Irish Diaspora Network and Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute at Quinnipiac University, as part of its Great Famine Voices 2023 season which is funded by the Government of Ireland … [Read more...] about Ira Aldridge: African Tragedian in Ireland

Sarah Parker Remond

By Christine Kinealy

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Continuing Christine Kinealy’s series on Black abolitionists who visited Ireland, we find, in Sarah Parker Remond, a woman who was remarkable and fearless. Frederick Douglass’s visit to Ireland 175 years ago—an experience that he described as “transformative”—has been commemorated on both sides of the Atlantic. However, Frederick was not the first or the last black … [Read more...] about Sarah Parker Remond