Irish America
Irish America
Billy Lawless, champion for immigration reform, passes in ChicagoIn every march for immigration reform, amid all the Mexican and Central American marchers, you could always depend on one ruddy-faced Irishman leading a multiracial contingent of true believers behind the banner of “Chicago Celts for Immigration Reform.” Billy Lawless became such a dependable voice for reforming … [Read more...] about Those We Lost
Waterford, once called the hidden gem of Ireland, is now a tourist destination known for its extravagant festivities. Its annual harvest festival in September attracted upwards of 40,000 visitors. The Samhain festival in October saw the City’s streets awash with a fusion of spooky, spectral, and fascinating events under the watchful eye of An Dearg Dua, a 2,000-year-old … [Read more...] about Winterval in Waterford: European City of Christmas
In this photograph taken in 1925, my mother Kathleen (far left), her mother and father Sam and Ellen Bell, and 10 other siblings pose as they leave their home in Crossgar, County Down. They journeyed to the United States and settled in Chicago, where, after only four years, my granddad died, leaving Grandma Bell to raise a family of 11. She was a woman of tremendous faith in … [Read more...] about Photo Album: “Give Me a Wee Step”
On March 3, 1988, in the shadow of the rock of Gibraltar, British Special Air Services (SAS) gathered behind IRA members Sean Savage, Daniel McCann, and Mairéad Farrell as they were ascending the rock. When the three victims, all unarmed, turned around, saw the soldiers, and saw their guns, they put their hands up, the universal signal of surrender and “for the love of God, … [Read more...] about Mairéad Farrell: A Fanatic Heart
On the 70th anniversary of Elvis' "That's All Right" recording, Noel Shine looks back with nostalgia on the song that changed the world.The seventieth anniversary of the recording of Elvis’ first record, “That’s All Right,” a seminal moment in music history, happened this past July 5. Sam Phillips, proprietor of Memphis Recording Studios, was at the control desk on that fateful … [Read more...] about “That’s All Right”
