Born a slave, Frederick Douglass died as a champion of human rights, and Ireland played an important role in his political awakening. In 1845, Ireland provided a safe refuge to Frederick Douglass, a 27-year-old “fugitive” slave from America. Douglass described his four months in the country as the “happiest times” in his life and the Irish people as the most “ardent” … [Read more...] about Frederick Douglass and Irish Home Rule
Christine Kinealy
County Mayo Foundation Launches “Be Part of the Start” Campaign
On a mid-May evening in a Fifth Avenue apartment overlooking Central Park, the County Mayo Foundation launched its first major fundraising campaign since the organization was established in 2015. The campaign is called “Be Part of The Start” and aims to connect an estimated 2.5 million Mayo diaspora across the U.S. with the non-profit sector in the county, as well as with … [Read more...] about County Mayo Foundation Launches “Be Part of the Start” Campaign
Window on the Past: Victoria
& the Battering Ram (Photos)
Sean Sexton’s photographic archive, considered the finest privately-held collection of Irish photographs in the world, provide a poignant photo-history of evictions in the final decades of the 19th century. These images created a wave of sympathy for Irish tenants and embarrassed the British government into making legislative changes.
In 1900, Queen Victoria visited Ireland … [Read more...] about Window on the Past: Victoria
& the Battering Ram (Photos)
Explore the First Weekly Irish Times Published After the Rising
April 29, 2016
The first issue of The Weekly Irish Times published following the Easter Rising has been digitized for free by Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute at Quinnipiac University. The issue, covering the weeks of April 29, May 6, and May 13, calls the Rising “The Darkest Week in the History of Dublin.” A subheading on page one reads “An Orgie [sic] of Fire and Slaughter.” The 12-page … [Read more...] about Explore the First Weekly Irish Times Published After the Rising
Time to Say Goodbye to the Irish National Anthem?
Historian Christine Kinealy wonders if the Irish national anthem is still relevant today. ℘℘℘ Soldiers are we, whose lives are pledged to Ireland, Some have come from a land beyond the wave, Sworn to be free … Ninety years ago, as the newly created Free State was coming to terms with ten years of turmoil, which included war, civil war and partition, it simultaneously was … [Read more...] about Time to Say Goodbye to the Irish National Anthem?