The Irish Consulate in New York City hosted a discussion of Irish-Native American relations in June. Titled, “Native Americans and the Irish: Historic and Continuing Connections,” it touched on interactions between the two groups over the past centuries that have been both friendly and confrontational.
The conversation covered the Choctaw nation’s gift of $170 towards Irish famine relief in 1847, which took place just 13 years after the Choctaw’s own “Trail of Tears” forced resettlement, and the sad fact that many of the Irish who joined the Army after the Civil War were party to the effort to drive the Native Americans from their ancestral lands.
Consul General Ciarán Madden said he hoped that the meeting was as “a starting point which would lead to further exploration of the complexity, diversity, and richness of Irish America.” ♦
The Choctaws and those of other Native Tribes have brutally treated by the white man in many parts of the New World, especially in what is now the United States. In spite of that however, todays Native people seldom seek the compensation they so richly deserve.
This is true. Native tribes have been brutally abused and mistreated and I feel something should of been done about it.
goes both ways, Native Americans certainly killed and brutalized both the white and other Native Americans
Irish people everywhere and their descendants owe a deep deby of gratitude to the Choctaw Tribe.
I wanted to say this is a good article with some great information on native americans and the irish.
I have just found out that my family and my husband’s family have deep Irish roots. I have a granddaughter who is a Native American Indian (Apache and Ute). I’m interested in the interactions of both. This is very interesting to me.
My father an Irishman, they called hin “black Irish because ne had dark hair and slightly darker pigment than his 4 siblings. He’s gone now for over 20n years. But when I was a little girl doing a report in middle school, I was researching American Indians. My father told me we had Cherokee decent. I never believed him I just thought he was engaging me in the topic.
Last week, I had a client, just in converstaio that he was part Cherokee. He didn’t look the part either. He said that is why we are called “redface” because w don’t tan nor do the Cherokees. Is this true?