The United Nations recently received a sculpture from the Irish government. The work, by renowned Galway artist John Behan, celebrates the Irish diaspora and their contribution to the world.Entitled Arrival, the work portrays Irish emigrants debarking from a ship. If this sounds like a typical Famine commemoration, it's not. As the Irish Minister of State at the Department of … [Read more...] about Hibernia: Irish
U.N. Sculpture
Heritage
Hibernia: Irish
Hibernia:
Recognize This Ship?
By Irish America Staff
October / November 2000
It could be the same vessel that carried your ancestors to America. It is one of a collection of 11 paintings of the McCorkell Shipping Line in Derry. The McCorkell line was operated and owned by William McCorkell & Co., Ltd. from 1778 to 1897 for the principal purpose of carrying passengers to the Americas. Unlike the infamous "coffin ships," cargo vessels hastily … [Read more...] about Hibernia:
Recognize This Ship?
Two Grandfathers
William Kennedy on his unsung origins.My grandfathers, George Kennedy and Peter McDonald, died before I was born. I came to know something of them through talks with my parents and other relatives, a few artifacts, death certificates and obituaries, and two photographs that defined them for me forever. Both photos are working-class portraits.The portrait of George Kennedy is … [Read more...] about Two Grandfathers
Puddle Jumping
The English Catholic martyr, St. Edmund Campion, lived in Dublin for a while in 1569 and here is what he wrote about the Irish: "The people are thus inclined: religious, franke, amorous, irefull, sufferable of paines infinite, very glorious, many sorcerers, excellent horsemen, delighted with warres, great almes-givers, passing in hospitalitie: the lewder sort both clarkes and … [Read more...] about Puddle Jumping