Irish Heritage Month: Kindred Spirits

March is Irish Heritage Month. This year we are honoring it in a unique way, which is inspired by the sculpture “Kindred Spirits. 

 

In a small Irish town, Mileton, County Cork, a stainless steel sculpture of nine handmade feathers curves up from a concrete foundation, symbolizing the shape of an empty bowl. These feathers represent the Choctaw Nation from Oklahoma and their shared history with Ireland.

Kindred Spirits Sculpture

 

From 1845 to 1852, the Irish were in the midst of the “Potato Famine.” Due to potato blight, which caused the predominate crop of Ireland to rot, combined with a repressive British government that ruled Ireland at the time, people were starving. Note, potato blight is caused by Phytophthora Infestan, a fungus that is extremely hard to treat in potato and tomato crops once a field has been infected. As spores become airborne, the infection quickly spreads to adjacent fields and can easily decimate farming communities for miles. 

 

In 1841, Ireland had a population of just over eight million, of which two-thirds were dependent on agriculture for their survival, yet rarely received a working wage. They had to work for their landlords in return for the patch of land they needed to grow enough food for their own families, with the potato being the only crop they could grow that met their nutritional needs.

 

During the “Great Hunger,” about 1 million people died and more than a million fled the country. Ireland’s population never recovered and today has a population of about 5 million (includes the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). 

 

The famine "became part of the long story of betrayal and exploitation which led to the growing movement in Ireland for independence."

 

At this time, in Indian Territory, Choctaw people were continuing to rebuild their lives after the forced removal from our homeland sixteen years earlier. [The Choctaw Indians were driven out of their lands in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana to "Indian Territory,"lands west of the Mississippi River, today Oklahoma, by the enforcement of the Indian Removal Act. Starting in 1831, the “trail of tears” caused the deaths of approximately 2,500 Choctaw.] Remembering our hardships along the Trail of Tears, Choctaw families identified with the anguish of the spread of disease and the starvation of the Irish people; it was a familiar heartache. 

 

In 1847, after the first potato blight, Choctaw people collected money and donated it to families in Ireland through a philanthropist by the name of Myndert van Schaick (Kinealy 2015, Donnelly 2002). Schaick led the General Irish Relief Committee located in New York City who gave the money to the Society of Friends in Dublin, Ireland, which had been established in 1846 after the first potato blight. The Society of Friends worked with the Quakers to provide direct support to Irish families in the form of cash, fuel, seeds, blankets, and soup kitchens (Kinealy 2015). Several historical accounts attest to funds donated by Choctaw People, some at various locations, others at only one location, some even credit a much larger donation, but it is clear that at least $170 [equivalent to $5,423 today] did make it to Ireland in this manner.  

 

What is particularly interesting about this story is the very nature of how the Quakers helped the Irish people. Other religious organizations providing relief wanted something in return for their donation to Irish families. Whether it was a day’s labor, school attendance by Irish children, a verbal conversion, a baptism, or other request, aid was conditional. The Quakers, however, provided their services to Irish families unconditionally. This unconditional charity likely appealed to Choctaw people having suffered so greatly the years leading to removal, during the Trail of Tears, and after. This single act of compassion to seeming strangers some 4300 miles across the Atlantic Ocean, united two nations, forging a bond to last for generations. Iti Fabvssa Kindred Spirits

 

Told through generations, the story of generosity resulted in trips by both nations. In 1990, Choctaw Nation leaders traveled to Ireland, and in 1995 Irish President Mary Robinson visited the Choctaw.

 

                                     Kindred Spirits-The Choctaw-Irish Bond Lives On 

 

In this time of Covid a Go Fund Me campaign, Navajo & Hopi Families Covid-19 Relief Fund has gone viral among the Irish and they are helping to raise millions of dollars of much needed funds through small contributions.

Below are some of the comments that have accompanied recent donations:

 

In acknowledgment of the Choctaw and Cherokee Nations' generosity to the people of Ireland in the Gorta Mór of 1845 to 1852. Thank you! Fiona Flanagan

 

When we stand together we are stronger. I also thank you for your help in our time of need ( the famine). Laurence O’Neill

 

For your support given to the people of Ireland during the famine, I now share my support with you . Thank you. Christophe Cosgrove

 

$170 donated in memory of the donation by the Chocktaw first nation r to help my ancestors at a terrible time in our history. Their kindness and compassion to a faraway country at a time they had their own needs will never be forgotten here in Ireland. Noreen McCarthy

 

I donated because the Navajo and Hopi tribes have a culture and dignity which is beautiful to behold. And like us, the Irish, they see the importance of keeping their culture strong, through their own language. Ar aghaidh libh! Liam Reamonn

Adversity often brings out the best in people, the Choctaw tribe said in a statement. “We are gratified – and perhaps not at all surprised – to learn of the assistance our special friends, the Irish, are giving to the Navajo and Hopi nations. Our word for their selfless act is ‘iyyikowa’ – it means serving those in need.”

The Choctaw and Irish had become kindred spirits since the potato famine, the tribe said. “We hope the Irish, Navajo and Hopi peoples develop lasting friendships, as we have. Sharing our cultures makes the world grow smaller.”

The Kindred Spirits story has special meaning for me as my family came to America in 1850 from County Cork Ireland, where this sculpture stands. It is very possible that the generous donation of the Choctaw people allowed my ancestors to live long enough to board a ship and start a new life in America.