OPINION:
On Sept. 14, 1607, the Earl of Tyrone and the Earl of Tyrconnell departed Rathmullan in Ireland and headed to Europe. Their families and followers, about 90 people altogether, went with them.
The earls were patriarchs of the two most powerful clans in Ulster: the O’Neill and the O’Donnell clans. This event is known as the Flight of the Earls, and it marked the end of Ireland, at least for a few centuries, as a Gaelic nation. It also became an enduring symbol of the Irish diaspora.
As we approach St. Patrick’s feast day, it seems timely to reflect on the scattering of the Irish. Most of what passes for the celebration of Ireland’s patron saint in America nowadays tends to focus on alcohol and idiocy in equal parts. For those of Irish descent, however, St. Patrick’s feast day is a slightly darker remembrance of what was.
The Irish diaspora, driven by the misrule and cruelty of their Anglo-Saxon neighbors, has spread across five continents and lasted more than 400 years. The earls who left that day from Rathmullan were simply among the first and best-known of the Irish wild geese; they foreshadowed a great migration away from Ireland that continues today.
Although the reasons for leaving may have changed — religious persecution conducted by a foreign occupation force, cultural decimation by the same, famine and economic opportunities — the result has been the same. Generations of displaced Irishmen scattered around the globe. Some 10 million people born in Ireland have emigrated, more than the island’s peak population of 8.5 million on the eve of the Great Famine. Almost 5 million came to the United States.
By the end of the 19th century, 40% of Irish-born people lived abroad. Descendants of the diaspora can be found in Australia, Puerto Rico, New Zealand and Colombia. They include people as disparate as Charles de Gaulle and David Bowie.
About 15% of the American population has roots in Ireland. Until about 50 years ago, the Irish owned our biggest cities, our largest religious denomination and the nation’s dominant political party. None of that was easy. For generations, the Irish did the hard work that others would not do; in certain instances in the South, Irish laborers did work that even the slaves did not do.
Despite having little disposable income, the Irish patiently built Catholic churches, cathedrals, schools and universities in the United States.
A handful of those Irish came from Tullamore and Meath and other places in the old country and wound up in New York City in the closing days of the 19th century. They were cops, janitors and mobsters’ girlfriends, and I’m sure they struggled in a strange land. Their children, however, became lawyers and bankers, and their grandchildren grew up well-educated, well-traveled and well-fed — exemplars of the American dream.
Every day, I am grateful that my great-grandfather Michael McKenna summoned the courage to get on a boat to the United States. In doing so, he helped make my life, and the lives of everyone else in our family and our nation, better.
On the feast day of St. Patrick, take a minute and think about the Irish and your family’s immigrant story. Be grateful for all the sacrifices your people have made across the generations so you can live the life you have in the United States.
• Michael McKenna is a contributing editor at The Washington Times.
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