Transatlantic: An Irish American History Podcast

It is little known that the term United States of America may have been coined by the Irishman, Stephen Moylan. Although a little klnown figure in Ireland, he played a key role in the American revolution. His life story is remarkable. Born into a Catholic family in Cork his experiences in Ireland would form his transformational impact he on US history. In this episode, Fin & Damian speak with...

The individual experiences of ordinary Irish emigrant women in the late 19th and early 20th century can be difficult to reach, with many spending years working long hours in domestic service or on factory floors. But there is a group of these women who left a greater mark in the written record and--sometimes--even left behind their own words. They were the "radical" activists--Irish American women...

George Galphin was a married man in his late 20s when he left Armagh for a new life on the American Frontier in 1737. Across the four decades that followed Galphin built an extraordinary personal empire on the frontiers of colonial South Carolina and Georgia. At the heart of his success were his connections with the indigenous Muscogee (Creek) people, amongst whom he lived. In this episo...

The Gaelic Athletic Association is one of the defining organisations in modern Irish history. Founded in 1884, it became the bedrock of community life across Ireland and played a significant role in the country’s political and cultural story. Its importance was starkly illustrated on Bloody Sunday in 1920, when Crown forces attacked spectators at a match in Dublin. In this episode, we turn to the...

Today a little over 2,500 people live in Leadville, Colorado. But in the late 19th century tens of thousands of people flocked here, trying to eke out a living during the great silver mining boom. A huge number of those people were Irish. Nicknamed "Cloud City" because of its incredible altitude--over 10,000 feet up in the Rockies--there were few more difficult places to live. The harsh climate, s...

The coastal area of South Carolina and Georgia, known as the "Lowcountry", may not be the first place that springs to mind when it comes to Irish America. But the historic cities of Savannah and Charleston have long, rich histories of Irish immigration that have forged connections which endure to this day. In the case of Savannah, that immigration was so large it saw the Irish population reach a p...

The U.S. entry into World War II in 1941 led to the deployment of tens of thousands of American troops to Ireland, just as it had during World War I. But this time they were concentrated only in Northern Ireland, which had remained part of the United Kingdom. The American arrival led to an unparalleled explosion in Northern Ireland's population. In this episode we are joined by Dr J...

The St. Patrick's Day Parade is the centrepiece of celebrations of Ireland's patron saint the world over. But how did it start--and just who started it? In this episode Fin and Damian are joined by noted historian of the Irish aboard, Dr Cian McMahon, who is currently working on a new history of the Parade. In a far-reaching episode we discuss the Parade's origins, influences and legacy down...

As the Irish communities prepare to celebrate St Patrick’s Day, Fin and Damian look at who he was and what we know about his life. From his early days in the late Roman Empire to his time in Ireland as a slave and his role in conversion Ireland to Christianity. Terry O’Hagan’s Vox Hiberionacum https://voxhib.com St Patrick Dictionary of Irish Biography Entry  https://www.dib.ie/biography/patr...

The beginnings of the Catholic Irish story in New York City are usually associated with the mid-nineteenth century. But in the immediate wake of the Revolution, a small, vibrant community had already begun to establish itself, quickly making an impact on the religious, political and social life of New York. In this episode we will hear about the wealthy Irish Catholic merchants who helped cre...

Irish folklore often recalls an ancient past. However, in this episode Fin and Damian explore how America and the experiences of Irish emigrants had already become part of folklore by the early twentieth century. Set down almost 100 years ago, among the stories you will hear tales of ghosts that reflect a sense of loss and remembrance of emigrants, examples of how returned emigrants were sometimes...

The American Civil War was a defining moment for Irish Americans in the 1860s. Over 250,000 Irish Americans many of them Famine emigrants served in the Union army. Over the course of the war they played a key role in the defeat of the Confederacy. However their service has been dogged by stereotypes and myth for more than 160 years.  In this episode Damian discusses his latest research publis...

How did Catholicism develop on America's West Coast during the 19th and 20th centuries, and how did it differ from the experience in the major Eastern cities? What role did Irish Americans Catholics, both women and men, play in the pioneering years of the Golden State's gold rush and the development of California's state capital over the century that followed? These are just some of the...

In this episode of Transatlantic: An Irish American History Podcast, we’re joined by noted historian Dr. Terry Golway to explore the story of Tammany Hall, the famed New York political machine so long associated with Irish America. In this show you will hear about Tammany's origins, how and when it became a powerful force for Irish immigrants, and how the famed machine operated through its long ex...

In 1771 Benjamin Franklin spent more than six weeks traveling through Ireland at a moment when tensions between Britain and her colonies were rising. In this episode Damian and Fin trace his route from Dublin through the Irish countryside and explore the people he met and the conditions he witnessed. Despite being laid low with food poisoning on his first day he quickly became absorbed in what he...

One of the most enduring stereotypes of early US history is the Mountain Man. This figure often appears as the tough and resourceful frontiersman familiar from films like The Revenant. The stereotype is rooted in fact and in recent months Damian has been researching the Irish men who found themselves in the American West during the early nineteenth century. Fin and Damian explore this history alon...

What can a micro-history of emigration, the story of a single townland, or even a single family, reveal about the wider Irish emigrant experience? In this episode, we trace the remarkable journey of the Clune family of Tyredagh Upper, Co. Clare, whose multigenerational migration to Norwalk, Connecticut offers insight into how local origins shaped settlement patterns in America. We’re joined by Dr....

Michael Phelan, born in Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny, rose to prominence as one of America's most gifted billiards player and showmen. In New York he encountered Hugh Collender, from Cappoquin, Co. Waterford, an exiled Irish nationalist who decided to turn his talents to business after the failed rising of 1848. Phelan’s flair and Collender’s enterprise combined into one of the great economic success...

Wisconsin isn't the first state that springs to mind when it comes to the Irish American Diaspora. But though often more associated with Germans (and German beer!), Wisconsin had a notable Irish presence. Today, Milwaukee is even home to Irish Fest, the largest Irish festival in the United States. In this episode, we’re joined by Professor Tim McMahon of Marquette University to uncover the fascina...

In this episode, Fin and Damian trace the Irish legacy scattered across the American map through the placenames they left behind. The journey takes them from Brooklyn’s Vinegar Hill, named for a Wexford battlefield in hopes of attracting Irish immigrants, to Menlo Park, California, the major tech hub with roots in a Galway inspired ranch. They uncover how Irish immigrants, Irish Americans and Iris...

In the early 1880s, crates of California dynamite found their way to London — not for trade, but for terror. Irish revolutionaries in the United States were plotting bombings in the heart of the British Empire, and San Francisco, with its deep Irish roots, became a key outpost in the transatlantic campaign. In this episode, we speak with renowned author and historian Dr Myles Dungan about his new...

In 1878, one of the most infamous crimes in Gilded Age America stunned and captivated the nation: the corpse of Alexander Turney Stewart — an Irish immigrant turned millionaire merchant — was stolen from its grave in Manhattan and held for ransom. What followed was a drawn out saga that dragged another Irishman into the spotlight: Patrick Henry Jones — a Civil War general, lawyer, and public serva...

When most people think of American heiresses marrying into the British or Irish aristocracy, they might picture Cora Crawley from Downton Abbey —the wealthy American who brought her fortune (and a bit of drama) to an English estate. But Cora’s story wasn’t entirely fiction. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, scores of American women crossed the Atlantic, bringing their wealth to some of Ir...

We had an unplanned break in the show, but we’re back with a streamlined Transatlantic, having finally unlocked the secrets of recording across several time zones. Tune in to find out what we have planned! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of the most famous Irish American organisations is the Fenians. In this episode, Damian and Fin are joined by Brennan MacDonald to explore the history of this enigmatic group. Brennan reveals how the Fenians harnessed the military experience gained in the US Civil War to challenge British rule in Ireland, and how their transatlantic networks shaped the struggle for Irish independence. Further...