The Irish America Hall of Fame finds a home in New Ross, and brings the story of the Irish in America back to a place that served as a port of departure for many who braved the journey to North America during Famine times. On a blustery July day, I descend the narrow ladder into the depths of the 'Dunbrody,' an exact replica of a three-masted sailing ship that ferried … [Read more...] about A Voyage of Rediscovery at the Dunbrody Famine Ship
Immigration
The First Word: Let the Irish Apply
A letter from our Editor... After all these years in America, I still feel like an immigrant. Though I proudly hold American citizenship, it is other immigrants that I most readily identify with. “Where are you from?” I ask waiters and cab drivers, even a woman on the subway (we were so caught up in our chat about how “there is no place in the world like New York … [Read more...] about The First Word: Let the Irish Apply
Portraits of the Irish Leaving Home
Photographer David Monahan has been powerfully documenting the recent wave of Irish emigration in photographs taken just before their subjects' departures to different corners of the world. “It is my wish to photograph people of all nationalities, who have made the decision to move from Ireland for economic reasons[:] in and around the city, juxtaposed with landscapes that are … [Read more...] about Portraits of the Irish Leaving Home
His Brother’s Keeper: Commodore John Barry
John Barry, the father of the American Navy, went to sea as a child to escape the Irish penal laws and rose to command the entire U.S. fleet. Tim McGrath writes that Barry's skills as a mariner and warrior were rivaled only by his heart. On a fine spring day in 1787, John Rossiter’s merchantman, the Rising Sun, glided towards the Philadelphia waterfront after a successful … [Read more...] about His Brother’s Keeper: Commodore John Barry
The Hannah: An Irish Odyssey
The story of The Hannah, an Irish famine ship that hit an iceberg in 1849, is now a documentary. John Kernaghan explains how it happened and how Irish America played a part. Paddy Murphy’s body is slowly being stilled by a degenerative disease, but his eyes are alive, bright and knowing as he struggles to form words to match his racing thoughts. He knows that the story he … [Read more...] about The Hannah: An Irish Odyssey