Our series The Irish and... continues this month with a look at the multi-layered relationship between the Irish and Native Americans.
Both a colonized people, they were often described using similar terms by their colonizers. However, as immigration to the US grew, the Irish were often involved in the oppression of the Native Americans, most notably in the Trail of Tears. How touching it was then that several years later, the Choctaw made a generous donation to the Irish during the Great Hunger. The relationship continues today with several cultural exchanges happening from scholarship, commemoration, and renewed support.
Conor J. Donnan is a visiting lecturer in American Studies at University of Maryland Baltimore County. His research focuses on anti-colonialism and anti-capitalism among Indigenous nations and Irish nationalists during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Professor Donnan is committed to the Public Humanities. He is involved in museum projects and he has appeared on podcasts about Irish politics and Native American history.
He received his B.A. in History from Ulster University in Ireland. Afterward, Conor moved to the United States, where he obtained a Master’s degree in Historical Studies from the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). He received his PhD in History from the University of Pennsylvania.