Native American and Irish interactions

Native American nations, Irish immigrants to the United States, and residents of Ireland have a history of often-supportive interactions dating back to the start of the Great Famine. Across multiple generations, people from both communities have drawn attention to their parallel histories of colonization by English-speaking countries.^[1][2][3] Scholarship on, and press attention to, these interactions has highlighted both acts of solidarity and the participation of some Irish immigrants in the invasion and dispossession of Native Americans.^[1][4]

The Choctaw tribe had significant influence from the McCurtain family. Beginning with Daniel McCurtain, an Irish immigrant who had fought in the American Revolution and later married a Choctaw woman, and his descendant Cornelius McCurtain (born 1803), who became a chief of the Choctaw tribe. Cornelius' sons Jackson McCurtain, Edmund McCurtain, and Green McCurtain all later became principal chiefs of the Choctaw nation.^[5][6]

Cooperation between the Irish and Native American nations dates to at least the mid-19th century, a time of trauma in both regions. The Trail of Tears, the forced mass relocation of Native American tribes from the American Southeast to the Indian Territory (later known as Oklahoma), took place between 1830 and 1850. Thousands died of disease or starvation during the journey. The first nation to be relocated was the Choctaw tribe of modern-day states Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana into southern Oklahoma.^[7]

La Gran Hambruna fue la inanición masiva y la propagación de enfermedades de 1845 a 1849. Un millón de irlandeses murieron y más de un millón se vieron obligados a emigrar, lo que provocó que la población de Irlanda disminuyera en más del 20%. Se dice que durante el Sendero de las Lágrimas, miembros de la Nación Choctaw se enteraron de la Hambruna por un soldado irlandés. ^{[ 8 ]} Poco después de su reubicación, los Choctaw recolectaron dinero para enviar a Irlanda. Los Choctaw de Skullyville donaron $170 y los Choctaw de Doaksville donaron $150. ^{[ 9 ]} Ambas donaciones están valoradas en aproximadamente $5000 en la actualidad. ^{[ 10 ]} La Nación Cherokee también donó $200. ^{[ 9 ] [ 7 ]} Padraig Kirwan es profesor titular en la Universidad Goldsmiths y coautor de Famine Pots: The Choctaw Irish Gift Exchange 1874-Present con LeAnne Howe de la Nación Choctaw. Ella dice: «Hay una simbiosis entre lo que significa ser un pueblo colonizado y haber vivido un trauma cultural». ^{[ 8 ]} Después de ser enviados a Midleton en el condado de Cork, ^{[ 10 ]} los fondos se utilizaron para comprar alimentos, mantas y pienso para el ganado, ^{[ 8 ]} que fueron distribuidos por la comunidad cuáquera . ^{[ 7 ]}

Según el historiador Diarmaid Ferriter , las donaciones "demostraron hasta qué punto la hambruna tuvo repercusión, llegando a personas a 4.000 millas de distancia que recientemente habían sufrido terribles privaciones y el desalojo de sus tierras. Existe la creencia de que la hambruna nunca se ha olvidado aquí, y ha hecho que los irlandeses sean más propensos a unirse a otras personas marginadas". ^{[ 7 ]} Conor Donnan, historiador irlandés, afirma que "las donaciones de los Choctaw a los irlandeses no fueron solo filantrópicas, sino también una crítica al imperialismo en los Estados Unidos... estas eran naciones que fueron víctimas del proyecto imperial anglo-protestante". ^{[ 9 ]}

In Rotha Mór an tSaoil (published in English as "The Hard Road to Klondike"), his posthumously published Irish language memoir of living in the American Wild West and of the Klondike Gold Rush, Micí Mac Gabhann wrote often of how often he and fellow Irish-Americans spoke to each other about there being clear parallels between how the United States Federal Government was treating the Native population and how the British Empire was treating the Irish.^[11]

In 1919, during the Irish war for independence, Irish president Éamon de Valera went to the US to raise support. He met with the Lac Court Oreille Band of the Ojibwe in Wisconsin. There, in front of the 3,000-member tribe, he was made an honorary chief of the Ojibwe.^[12] Joe Kingfisher, the Tribal Chief, described his wishes to give de Valera, "the prettiest blossom of the fairest flower on earth, for you come to us as a representative of one oppressed nation to another". The Irish and Ojibwe traded gifts, the Irish receiving a headdress, and the Ojibwe receiving multiple .38 caliber guns, which they still have today.^[9]

De Valera was given the name Nay Nay Ong Abe ("Dressing Feather") after a historic Chippewa chief. De Valera delivered a speech in Irish, drawing a parallel between the Irish and Native American struggles for freedom. De Valera stated:

I speak to you in Gaelic…because I want to show you that though I am white I am not of the English race. We, like you, are a people who have suffered, and I feel for you with a sympathy that comes only from one who can understand as we Irishmen can. You say you are not free. Neither are we free, and I sympathise with you because we are making a similar fight. As a boy, I read and understood of your slavery and longed to become one of you.^[13][14]

• In 1990: Choctaw leaders visited County Mayo in Ireland, and participate in the first "Famine Walk". This is a reenactment of the walk in 1848 made by starving Irish to their landlords.^[10]
• In 1992: 22 Irish leaders visited the Choctaw Nation to participate in the annual Trail of Tears memorial walk.^[10]
• In 1992: Mansion House, the residence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin since 1715, installed a plaque in honor of the Choctaw aid.^[10]
• In 1995: The Irish President, Mary Robinson, visited the Choctaw Nation to thank them for their donation.^[10]
• In 2017: Kindred Spirits is a sculpture in Bailick Park, Midleton, County Cork, Ireland, which was unveiled in 2017 to acknowledge and thank the Choctaw Nation for their donation. The sculpture features nine 20-foot stainless steel eagle feathers.^[9]
• In 2018: The Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, visited the Choctaw nation.^[9]
  • There, he announced that members of the Choctaw tribe have the opportunity to earn scholarships and get free tuition at Irish universities.^[9]
  • Ireland's Consul General visited again the next year.^[10]
• In 2019: Studies begin for the first recipient of the Choctaw-Ireland Scholarship Program.^[10]
  • Recipients get full tuition at University College Cork as well as 10,000 euros for living expenses.^[10]
• In 2020: Ireland donates to the Navajo and Hopi Nations during the COVID-19 pandemic in a program called "pay it forward".^[10] A GoFundMe page was created to help the Hopi and Navajo tribes fight Covid. It raised over US$4 million, tens of thousands coming from Irish donors. At the time, the Navajo and Hopi tribes had the highest rates of Covid outside of New York and New Jersey.^[9] The communications director for the fundraiser, Cassandra Begay, attempted to spread awareness through Twitter.^[7] Chief of the Choctaw Nation, Gary Batton, responded to these donations, saying "We have become kindred spirits with the Irish in the years since the Irish potato famine. We hope the Irish, Navajo and Hopi peoples develop lasting friendships, as we have."^[7][15]
• In September 2020, the Irish National Lacrosse team gave up their spot in the World Lacrosse Championship to the Iroquois Nationals - a joint team of players from the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora Nations. The Iroquois National Team had not been invited to the tournament because organizers refused to recognize them as a Sovereign Nation.^[16]
• In March 2021 Poets Doireann Ní Ghríofa from Ireland and LeAnne Howe from the Choctaw Nation collaborated, presented by the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series.^[17]
• In 2024, the Choctaw Nation unveiled the "Eternal Heart" sculpture in Oklahoma. It was created by tribal member Samuel Stitt and jointly funded by the Irish government and the Chahta Foundation as a companion to Midleton's "Kindred Spirits" sculpture, symbolising the enduring friendship forged by the Choctaws' 1847 famine donation to Ireland.^[18]

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  In July 2025, the Navajo and Hopi Nations presented a handwoven rug to the Irish people as a gesture of thanks for donations made during the COVID-19 pandemic, which raised over $3 million from Ireland alone. The rug, depicting the Kindred Spirits sculpture commemorating the Choctaw's 1847 famine donation to Ireland, was gifted to Ceann ComhairleVerona Murphy as a symbol of lasting friendship and mutual compassion.^[19]

• Native American–Jewish relations