They crossed the Atlantic to flee starvation and religious persecution. What they found when they got to this country was more heartbreak. No Irish need apply. Still, the Irish overcame terrible obstacles to become prosperous and influential in their new land. Their struggles are documented in a traveling exhibition from the Irish-American Heritage Museum in Albany, N.Y., that is now on view in Springfield.
Admission is free to the public.
It's not such an odd combination, says Judy Yaffe, program director at Hatikvah. We look at other groups that were discriminated against, and the Irish were certainly discriminated against when they came to this country. If you look back in history, Jews had a lot of the same issues. Yaffe says Hatikvah plans to dedicate an exhibition every year to a non-Jewish group that has suffered from prejudice. There will also be performances by the musical duo The Bards and by dancers from the Drake School of Irish Dance.