Irish America
Irish America
In 1863 President Lincoln proclaimed the first national designation of a date for Thanksgiving. He named the fourth Thursday in November and Lincoln's choice remained undisturbed for 75 years. In 1938 President Roosevelt essayed moving the day back a few weeks. He gave as his reason the complaints of merchants that Christmas and Thanksgiving were too close and the public spent … [Read more...] about Hibernia
During the worst winter of the Famine, the American reformer Asenath Hatch Nicholson began her one-woman relief operation, organizing a soup kitchen, visiting homes of the poor and distributing bread in the street. In May 1844, Asenath Nicholson left New York aboard the Brooklyn to “personally investigate the condition of the Irish poor.” She had been a schoolteacher in … [Read more...] about The Good Samaritan
Between 1845 and 1855, some 1.8 million left Ireland for Canada and the United States. Those who were lucky enough to survive the brutal journey to the New World were motivated by the hope of new possibilities, including the promise of employment. Ten thousand Micks They swung their picks To build the new canal But the choleray was stronger’n they And killed ’em all … [Read more...] about The Hands that Built America
Hundreds of unmarked and forgotten mass graves scattered across the Irish countryside are a silent testimony to a human tragedy of appalling and unimaginable dimensions. In the late spring of 1985, I asked a local historian in Westport, Co. Mayo, if he knew of any burial places associated with the ‘Famine.’ He brought me to the outskirts of the town and pointed to what … [Read more...] about This Holy Ground
The Irish Famine was the first national disaster to attract international fundraising activities. These activities cut across traditional divides of religion, nationality, class and gender. Such a response was unprecedented. The earliest fund-raising activities took place at the end of 1845. The first place to send money to Ireland was Calcutta in India. The fundraising was … [Read more...] about Help from Afar
