There is none as Irish as Barry Obama?

In Ollie's Pub, Moneygall, Co. Offaly

Well Obama, came, saw and conquered in Ireland last weekend. The first American President to come to Ireland was John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1963. His reception was rapturous both as the first Irish American President and first Catholic President of the United States. Since then 5 more Presidents have visited Ireland. Four of them have claimed Irish roots, each of them came on whistle-stop tours full of photo-ops for the folks back home, each of them came the year before an election and, while we must give Barack Obama the benefit of the doubt, none of them made a second trip.

Clinton and Regan had fairly obvious Irish roots but it may surprise you to know that Richard Nixon was also of Irish descent from the Quaker Milhous family from Co. Kildare. Indeed 16 of the 43 Presidents of the United States have been of Irish descent but it may also surprise you that the majority were of Ulster –Scots background. They were Andrew Jackson, James Knox Polk, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.



So Barack made the pilgrimage to one of his ancestral homelands and the fact that Kenya is still waiting may reflect the small size of the Kenyan vote in America – over 40 million Americans claim Irish descent. So on Monday 23rd May 2011 the birthplace of the president's great-great-great-grandfather celebrated its brief moment of glory. A hundred flags of Ireland and the United States were raised this afternoon on the only street in Moneygall, Co. Offaly.

Unlike the Kenyan father he hardly knew Barack Obama’s Irish descent is on his remarkable mother, Ann Dunham’s side of the family. He is descended six generations on from Falmouth Kearney who was born about 1830 in Moneygall, Ireland and died 21 March 1878. He immigrated to the U.S. on the ship Marmion on 20 March 1850, along with his sister Margaret Cleary and her husband, William. Moneygall today is a small Sraidbhaile (Street village in Gaelic or one horse town in American) in Co. Offaly and like so many of the impoverished inhabitants of the time they were fleeing the famine or as it is called in Gaelic, An Gorta Mór – The Great Hunger.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/07/gorta-mor-irelands-great-hunger.html

Two years after he settled in the US, Falmouth married Charlotte Holloway. In 1860 they were living in Deerfield, Ohio; the 1870 census has them in Tipton County, Indiana. Charlotte Kearney died in 1877, followed by her husband a little over a year later. They left three sons, and five daughters. One of those girls, Mary Anne, had a grandson called Stanley Armour Dunham. His daughter gave birth in August 1961 to a boy called Barack Hussein Obama.

Canon Stephen Neill from Cloughjordan, who carried out the initial research into President Barack Obama's links with Moneygall, was on hand for the flag raising ceremony and was no doubt gratified at both the visit and how the President introduced himself later when he made a speech in College Green in the centre of Dublin. "My name is Barack Obama, of the Moneygall Obamas and I've come home to find the apostrophe we lost somewhere along the way," he said.


Moneygall, Co. Offaly - centre of the world for 90 minutes

The Stars and Stripes flew beside the Irish flag where the President was met by huge cheers of "Obama, Obama" – on the same spot where President Bill Clinton wooed onlookers in 1995. It was good to see Barry O’Bama deliver his speech in front of the original Irish Parliament Building. It should be the future Irish Parliament building; maybe a bankrupt bank will sell it cheaply?

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/10/irish-parliament-building.html

In the speech Barack Obama last night drew upon the memory of John F Kennedy and Bill Clinton to deliver a powerful message of determination and hope. Capping a momentous day with an address to a crowd of 40,000 in Dublin, he said Ireland's best days are still to come. Speaking of the ties between Ireland and the United States, he said he had "come home".


Barack and Michelle Obama in College Green, Dublin

However, his visit was cut short when he flew on to London the same day to avoid an ash cloud from the latest Icelandic volcano eruption. There was genuine warmth and spontaneity in his speech in Dublin even if the introductory speech by the Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny slightly betrayed the fact that his Irish host was more used to making speeches from the backs of trucks in Co. Mayo, which he represents in the Irish Parliament.


Obama (with a toilet plunger!) in the 2003 Chicago St. Patrick's Day Parade - He joked (?) during his speech in Ireland that they were so marginalised by the organisers that they were last in the parade, just ahead of the roadsweepers cleaning up

There is a strange irony that Barack Obama was coming to Ireland to claim his Irish roots so he would look less foreign in the eyes of America. And whilst his speech was infectious and appreciated by the home crowd it was not aimed at them. It was the first hustings for Barack Obama’s 2012 election campaign and this time Barack won’t need Joe Biden with him to connect with the Irish vote.

There is none as Irish as Barry Obama?

In Ollie's Pub, Moneygall, Co. Offaly

Well Obama, came, saw and conquered in Ireland last weekend. The first American President to come to Ireland was John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1963. His reception was rapturous both as the first Irish American President and first Catholic President of the United States. Since then 5 more Presidents have visited Ireland. Four of them have claimed Irish roots, each of them came on whistle-stop tours full of photo-ops for the folks back home, each of them came the year before an election and, while we must give Barack Obama the benefit of the doubt, none of them made a second trip.

Clinton and Regan had fairly obvious Irish roots but it may surprise you to know that Richard Nixon was also of Irish descent from the Quaker Milhous family from Co. Kildare. Indeed 16 of the 43 Presidents of the United States have been of Irish descent but it may also surprise you that the majority were of Ulster –Scots background. They were Andrew Jackson, James Knox Polk, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.



So Barack made the pilgrimage to one of his ancestral homelands and the fact that Kenya is still waiting may reflect the small size of the Kenyan vote in America – over 40 million Americans claim Irish descent. So on Monday 23rd May 2011 the birthplace of the president's great-great-great-grandfather celebrated its brief moment of glory. A hundred flags of Ireland and the United States were raised this afternoon on the only street in Moneygall, Co. Offaly.

Unlike the Kenyan father he hardly knew Barack Obama’s Irish descent is on his remarkable mother, Ann Dunham’s side of the family. He is descended six generations on from Falmouth Kearney who was born about 1830 in Moneygall, Ireland and died 21 March 1878. He immigrated to the U.S. on the ship Marmion on 20 March 1850, along with his sister Margaret Cleary and her husband, William. Moneygall today is a small Sraidbhaile (Street village in Gaelic or one horse town in American) in Co. Offaly and like so many of the impoverished inhabitants of the time they were fleeing the famine or as it is called in Gaelic, An Gorta Mór – The Great Hunger.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/07/gorta-mor-irelands-great-hunger.html

Two years after he settled in the US, Falmouth married Charlotte Holloway. In 1860 they were living in Deerfield, Ohio; the 1870 census has them in Tipton County, Indiana. Charlotte Kearney died in 1877, followed by her husband a little over a year later. They left three sons, and five daughters. One of those girls, Mary Anne, had a grandson called Stanley Armour Dunham. His daughter gave birth in August 1961 to a boy called Barack Hussein Obama.

Canon Stephen Neill from Cloughjordan, who carried out the initial research into President Barack Obama's links with Moneygall, was on hand for the flag raising ceremony and was no doubt gratified at both the visit and how the President introduced himself later when he made a speech in College Green in the centre of Dublin. "My name is Barack Obama, of the Moneygall Obamas and I've come home to find the apostrophe we lost somewhere along the way," he said.


Moneygall, Co. Offaly - centre of the world for 90 minutes

The Stars and Stripes flew beside the Irish flag where the President was met by huge cheers of "Obama, Obama" – on the same spot where President Bill Clinton wooed onlookers in 1995. It was good to see Barry O’Bama deliver his speech in front of the original Irish Parliament Building. It should be the future Irish Parliament building; maybe a bankrupt bank will sell it cheaply?

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/10/irish-parliament-building.html

In the speech Barack Obama last night drew upon the memory of John F Kennedy and Bill Clinton to deliver a powerful message of determination and hope. Capping a momentous day with an address to a crowd of 40,000 in Dublin, he said Ireland's best days are still to come. Speaking of the ties between Ireland and the United States, he said he had "come home".


Barack and Michelle Obama in College Green, Dublin

However, his visit was cut short when he flew on to London the same day to avoid an ash cloud from the latest Icelandic volcano eruption. There was genuine warmth and spontaneity in his speech in Dublin even if the introductory speech by the Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny slightly betrayed the fact that his Irish host was more used to making speeches from the backs of trucks in Co. Mayo, which he represents in the Irish Parliament.


Obama (with a toilet plunger!) in the 2003 Chicago St. Patrick's Day Parade - He joked (?) during his speech in Ireland that they were so marginalised by the organisers that they were last in the parade, just ahead of the roadsweepers cleaning up

There is a strange irony that Barack Obama was coming to Ireland to claim his Irish roots so he would look less foreign in the eyes of America. And whilst his speech was infectious and appreciated by the home crowd it was not aimed at them. It was the first hustings for Barack Obama’s 2012 election campaign and this time Barack won’t need Joe Biden with him to connect with the Irish vote.

An Gorta Mór – Ireland’s Great Hunger.

I was delighted to hear from the remarkable Ruth Riddick in New York about an equally remarkable exhibition at the Irish Consulate in New York which she is involved with – “An Gorta Mór – Ireland’s Great Hunger” which is based on the collection at Connecticut’s Quinnipiac University.

Ireland’s Great Famine or The Great Hunger, as it is more commonly referred to today, ranks among the worst tragedies in the sweep of human history. Between 1845 and 1850, approximately 1.5 million Irish men, women and children died of starvation or related diseases. By 1855, more than two million more fled Ireland to avoid a similar fate. This decimation of her population makes Ireland’s Great Hunger both the worst chapter in the country’s history, and arguably, the single worst catastrophe in 19th century Europe.


The President of Ireland, Professor Mary McAleese opening the exhibition in New York

As for New York based Ruth who is providing communications services to the project she is one of life’s polymaths who has forged a career in the States providing consultancy in communications, advocacy, management and training as well as continuing her writing. She is special friend from the old days and she is known in Ireland as a leading feminist (a label she would never use herself). Ruth was a leading advocate for women’s rights and a rational humane approach to social problems at a time when they were both sorely needed in Ireland and when it took real personal courage to campaign on these issues. But there is much more to the talented Ms. Riddick than that as a perusal of her web site reveals;

www.ruthriddick.com/bio.html

As for the exhibition your thinking about the Irish famine will be irrevocably changed. Even the word “famine” in no longer used; the period is now known, inter alia, as the “starvation.” When I read the background on the Quinnipiac site I certainly learnt more than I did at school and it changed my view about the nature of the Famine. It is great with the developments in the North that the Irish-American perspective has moved on from the freeze frame it was in for so many years - I remember the old joke about there are only two political issues in Boston - "Trieste is Italian and Ireland must be united!"


Eviction of an Irish family by landlords during the famine

The Great Hunger irrevocably changed Ireland – its population was virtually halved, the dominance of the Gaelic language as the spoken language of the people was destroyed and the effects of the Irish Diaspora on Ireland and on the countries where the pitiful emigrants from starvation went to are felt to this day. It also reinforced the conviction that Irish people must take control of their own destiny and not be beholden to a foreign power.

As for the thrust of the exhibition to correct historical misapprehensions the President of Quinnipiac University writes;

“An Gorta Mór, The Great Hunger, is an attempt to set the record straight. For more than 150 years, the catastrophe that depopulated Ireland has been referred to as the Irish Potato Famine—as if a crop, and not a nation’s people, were the victims. Rather than an act of nature, The Great Hunger was the result of centuries of institutionalized oppression and callous disregard for human life. This unprecedented exhibition presents one of the world’s most extensive collections of art and literature portraying the tragedy and suffering in Ireland at that time. The authors, artists, writers and local voices whose work is collected in this exhibition stand together to bear witness to this crime against humanity.

It is critical that the Great Hunger be remembered accurately. In the 150-plus years since the Great Hunger, this tragedy has been downplayed and frequently distorted by Anglo historians and sympathizers. Too often it has been described as a disaster caused by the bad luck of a naturally occurring potato blight. British authorities, then responsible for ruling all of Ireland, were quick to agree, and thus took no responsibility for this epic disaster that claimed the lives of 1.5 million Irish people. Thanks to recent historians, such as Christine Kinealy, we now know that more than adequate food existed in Ireland; food exports from the country actually increased during the famine years. If only British authorities had possessed the will and compassion to deliver this food to the starving Irish. But British Government indifference resulted in the worst calamity ever to befall Ireland. It was not until 1997, 150 years after Black ‘47 that a British prime minister, Tony Blair, acknowledged that the British bore some responsibility for this terrible tragedy.

Irish-Americans must continue to publicly document this worst tragedy and human rights abuse in Ireland’s history—and to question those who even today seek to obscure the real causes of this human disaster.”

John L. Lahey, Ph.D. President, Quinnipiac University
Vice Chairman, New York St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee

Curated by producer Turlough McConnell, from the collection at Connecticut’s Quinnipiac University, the exhibition features art work by such major Irish sculptors as John Behan and Eamonn O’Doherty, as well as paintings, lithographs, photographs and etchings by other contemporary artists, and a fascinating selection of rare books and maps dating from the famine years and earlier.


Eamonn O’Doherty's marquette for a Famine Memorial

Quinnipiac University is a private, coeducational, non-sectarian institution located 90 minutes north of New York City and two hours south of Boston. Quinnipiac comprises schools of business, communications, education, health sciences, and law, and a College of Arts and Sciences.

Website; www.quinnipiac.edu

Commentary on wall panels comes from important historians from both sides of the Atlantic, and is decidedly revisionist. It is right that the revision of the incorrect history of the Great Hunger is led from America as even during it Americans looked upon it as an avoidable human tragedy and identified with the people of Ireland many who ended up seeking refuge there after harrowing voyages in “Coffin Ships” where the bodies of those who died were thrown overboard.


The disproprtionate effect of the famine on the West of Ireland can be seen from this map

The Rev. John Hughes, D.D., Bishop of New York speaking from the Broadway Tabernacle on March 20th, 1847 gave a lecture on the Irish Famine and immigrations and in his speech said,

“The year 1847 will be rendered memorable in the future annals of civilization, by two events; the one immediately preceding and giving occasion to the other, namely, Irish famine, and American sympathy and succour.”

The exhibition is open to the public weekdays through September 3rd from 12 Noon to 2PM at the Consulate of Ireland, 345 Park Avenue (17th Floor), New York, between 51st and 52nd Street. (Entrance also at 345 Lexington Avenue, near 6, E & M subway.)

Photo ID required for building access. Call ahead to confirm hours, (212) 319-2555 .

ADMISSION IS FREE.

www.thegreathunger.org


The legacy - One of the many deserted "Famine Villages" found in Ireland

An Gorta Mór – Ireland’s Great Hunger.

I was delighted to hear from the remarkable Ruth Riddick in New York about an equally remarkable exhibition at the Irish Consulate in New York which she is involved with – “An Gorta Mór – Ireland’s Great Hunger” which is based on the collection at Connecticut’s Quinnipiac University.

Ireland’s Great Famine or The Great Hunger, as it is more commonly referred to today, ranks among the worst tragedies in the sweep of human history. Between 1845 and 1850, approximately 1.5 million Irish men, women and children died of starvation or related diseases. By 1855, more than two million more fled Ireland to avoid a similar fate. This decimation of her population makes Ireland’s Great Hunger both the worst chapter in the country’s history, and arguably, the single worst catastrophe in 19th century Europe.


The President of Ireland, Professor Mary McAleese opening the exhibition in New York

As for New York based Ruth who is providing communications services to the project she is one of life’s polymaths who has forged a career in the States providing consultancy in communications, advocacy, management and training as well as continuing her writing. She is special friend from the old days and she is known in Ireland as a leading feminist (a label she would never use herself). Ruth was a leading advocate for women’s rights and a rational humane approach to social problems at a time when they were both sorely needed in Ireland and when it took real personal courage to campaign on these issues. But there is much more to the talented Ms. Riddick than that as a perusal of her web site reveals;

www.ruthriddick.com/bio.html

As for the exhibition your thinking about the Irish famine will be irrevocably changed. Even the word “famine” in no longer used; the period is now known, inter alia, as the “starvation.” When I read the background on the Quinnipiac site I certainly learnt more than I did at school and it changed my view about the nature of the Famine. It is great with the developments in the North that the Irish-American perspective has moved on from the freeze frame it was in for so many years - I remember the old joke about there are only two political issues in Boston - "Trieste is Italian and Ireland must be united!"


Eviction of an Irish family by landlords during the famine

The Great Hunger irrevocably changed Ireland – its population was virtually halved, the dominance of the Gaelic language as the spoken language of the people was destroyed and the effects of the Irish Diaspora on Ireland and on the countries where the pitiful emigrants from starvation went to are felt to this day. It also reinforced the conviction that Irish people must take control of their own destiny and not be beholden to a foreign power.

As for the thrust of the exhibition to correct historical misapprehensions the President of Quinnipiac University writes;

“An Gorta Mór, The Great Hunger, is an attempt to set the record straight. For more than 150 years, the catastrophe that depopulated Ireland has been referred to as the Irish Potato Famine—as if a crop, and not a nation’s people, were the victims. Rather than an act of nature, The Great Hunger was the result of centuries of institutionalized oppression and callous disregard for human life. This unprecedented exhibition presents one of the world’s most extensive collections of art and literature portraying the tragedy and suffering in Ireland at that time. The authors, artists, writers and local voices whose work is collected in this exhibition stand together to bear witness to this crime against humanity.

It is critical that the Great Hunger be remembered accurately. In the 150-plus years since the Great Hunger, this tragedy has been downplayed and frequently distorted by Anglo historians and sympathizers. Too often it has been described as a disaster caused by the bad luck of a naturally occurring potato blight. British authorities, then responsible for ruling all of Ireland, were quick to agree, and thus took no responsibility for this epic disaster that claimed the lives of 1.5 million Irish people. Thanks to recent historians, such as Christine Kinealy, we now know that more than adequate food existed in Ireland; food exports from the country actually increased during the famine years. If only British authorities had possessed the will and compassion to deliver this food to the starving Irish. But British Government indifference resulted in the worst calamity ever to befall Ireland. It was not until 1997, 150 years after Black ‘47 that a British prime minister, Tony Blair, acknowledged that the British bore some responsibility for this terrible tragedy.

Irish-Americans must continue to publicly document this worst tragedy and human rights abuse in Ireland’s history—and to question those who even today seek to obscure the real causes of this human disaster.”

John L. Lahey, Ph.D. President, Quinnipiac University
Vice Chairman, New York St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee

Curated by producer Turlough McConnell, from the collection at Connecticut’s Quinnipiac University, the exhibition features art work by such major Irish sculptors as John Behan and Eamonn O’Doherty, as well as paintings, lithographs, photographs and etchings by other contemporary artists, and a fascinating selection of rare books and maps dating from the famine years and earlier.


Eamonn O’Doherty's marquette for a Famine Memorial

Quinnipiac University is a private, coeducational, non-sectarian institution located 90 minutes north of New York City and two hours south of Boston. Quinnipiac comprises schools of business, communications, education, health sciences, and law, and a College of Arts and Sciences.

Website; www.quinnipiac.edu

Commentary on wall panels comes from important historians from both sides of the Atlantic, and is decidedly revisionist. It is right that the revision of the incorrect history of the Great Hunger is led from America as even during it Americans looked upon it as an avoidable human tragedy and identified with the people of Ireland many who ended up seeking refuge there after harrowing voyages in “Coffin Ships” where the bodies of those who died were thrown overboard.


The disproprtionate effect of the famine on the West of Ireland can be seen from this map

The Rev. John Hughes, D.D., Bishop of New York speaking from the Broadway Tabernacle on March 20th, 1847 gave a lecture on the Irish Famine and immigrations and in his speech said,

“The year 1847 will be rendered memorable in the future annals of civilization, by two events; the one immediately preceding and giving occasion to the other, namely, Irish famine, and American sympathy and succour.”

The exhibition is open to the public weekdays through September 3rd from 12 Noon to 2PM at the Consulate of Ireland, 345 Park Avenue (17th Floor), New York, between 51st and 52nd Street. (Entrance also at 345 Lexington Avenue, near 6, E & M subway.)

Photo ID required for building access. Call ahead to confirm hours, (212) 319-2555 .

ADMISSION IS FREE.

www.thegreathunger.org


The legacy - One of the many deserted "Famine Villages" found in Ireland