>> weekends on a cspan 2 are intellectual. every saturday, american history tv documents america's stories and on sundays, book tv brings you the latest within nonfiction books and authors. cspan funding comes from television charter communications. >> charter is proud to be recognized as one of the best -- getting started. building 100,000 miles of new infrastructure to reach those who need it most. >> charter communications, along with these television companies, support cspan 2 as a public service . >> patrick murphy has worked for over 40 years in st. louis television both on air and as a six-time emmy-winning producer of documentaries and a variety shows. for the past 24 years he has oversee the speaker series of powell hall and is a working artist producing displays on

favorite gear race. he is of course the author of irish in st. louis to shanty to lace curtain. his next book is on monasteries and shrines throughout the state of missouri and will be in bookstores in 2023. he is here to talk about the history of the irish in st. louis. after the talk, we invite you to join us outside the museum shop upstairs where he will be signing copies of his book. that is enough for me. i am going to turn it over to patrick murphy. please give me a warm welcome today for mr. patrick murphy. >> [ applause ] >> thank you, emily. thank you for joining. what a great turnout. such a cold day, i appreciate that. the historical society has been a wonderful help in putting this book together and photographs, and they are just wonderful people.

just a great treasure for the st. louis community. so, how many of you out there identified to some degree as being irish? is there anybody who does not in some way identify with being irish? good. thanks for coming anyway. both of you. i grew up with the perception of being irish, and it started at a very early age. in fact, the first time i actually remember becoming aware in some sense that i was a part of some subgroup of the species called irish, i was about five years old, and it was at the downtown famous bar, when i visited mr. santa claus. now, some of you, of a certain age, what ever that the real santa claus was at the downtown famous. i started developing a

theological sophistication and i asked my mother, how could there be a santa claus at scruggs and at vanderbilt and she said patrick, the real santa is in downtown. the rest are helpers. so, i climbed into his lap, before christmas. and he asked me in his normal jolly way, what is your name. patrick murphy. and he said, that is a fine irish name. it was the first time, a major celebrity, like santa claus, this was something worth mentioning, this had to be something. and, i would probably have to look into that. well, there are certain names to have a certain ethnic flavors and i'm and patrick murphy is one of them. so as a little boy, i would be introduced to people and even

to this day i am introduced to people. as patrick murphy. and, maybe not even half of them, but a lot of them feel compelled to comment on my name. it is always friendly. it's always wonderful. it's always something like, good. or top of the morning. which i understand they do not really say in ireland but we sit here because being irish in america, i learned it, it's different. and irish people we guide irish americans as being americans. so, i was -- i am old enough to remember a lot of family members in a storytelling family of people who were actually born, my grandfather, his brothers, they were born in the 1880s and early 1890s and they grew up.

my uncle fred would tell stories about the 1900s, throwing rocks at the streetcars and helping the other kids tear up the stretch. i heard a lot of patch stories and i always sort of wondered, what is the essence of this thing called being irish? and over the course of the book i asked a lot of people, then he long, the ceo of anheuser- busch, another neighborhood called the patch, what being irish meant to him because he is very proud. he had a bunch of very irish people, dan flynn, mike already, et cetera. and a german brewery, irish leadership. he said patrick, i don't know what being irish really means but i know that i

am very proud of it. so i thought the best way to approach the subject of being irish was a book. 80 different stories from the beginning to today, each one of them focusing on some aspect of irish were being irish. why did we come here in the first place. that was very interesting. i learned a lot. i was always surprised talking to the older people, hearing their stories, they had a very step storing family. how it used to be. i grew up in st. louis where everybody loves the irish once a year, everybody dresses irish. and we are the only city our

size that has a committee of any size that has two parades and i knew that it wasn't always like that. one time, they were all pushed together in neighborhoods like dogtown and kerry patch and the patch and it was hard to get a job and there were signs that said irish need not apply. there is a very strong anti- catholic and anti-catholic sentiment in st. louis. i wondered, what happened? why do they hate us? but then they loved us. there is your poor irishman, from english newspaper back in the 1870s. standing in the irish or english porch, dreamily looking at a sign that will take him to america. ireland has the misfortune of being very close to another island called england.

and, i learned that in the year 1155, in english pope, adrian the 4th, he gave ireland to an irish king, henry ii. he gave it to him. and he gave it to him with the explicit directions that he should instill virtue and morality in the irish people. something for which 900 years later, the irish have never expressed gratitude for it. to put it into perspective, ireland -- is important to understand why irish americans are the way they are. in light of their history. ireland was occupied for over 800 years, foreign power. to put that into perspective, something that we can closely relate to, europe was occupied by germany for six years. so,

the effect on the irish people is just staggering. there were laws, the penal laws, and in the 1600s, essentially, and made it illegal to the irish in ireland. protestant or catholic. you couldn't know a horse of a certain size. you could marry a protestant. you could travel more than so many miles from your home. at one point, the language was made illegal. the names were anglicized. i learned that murphy used to be orthodox. but everybody had to anglicized the names, so now we have kelly's and flanagan's and murphy's and mcdougal earlier, and donahue. it is illegal to the irish at the time and the harp was

banned as a national symbol. the shamrock was banned. it really was illegal to wear green at one time and you really could be hanged for wearing it as it was considered witchcraft. so, as early as the 18 30s, they started to come to st. louis, to get away from these laws, they tended to be ambitious people who wanted to get away. and, they had a couple of appealing aspects to it. one, was that it was named after a saint. a catholic town. many of the irish coming over were catholic. all of them, hostilities and st. louis, nearly as bad as it was in the eastern cities, baltimore, new york, philadelphia, even more hostility. and, a nice thing about st. louis was it was generally a french town and the french hated the english as well! so, they could share that.

so, a lot of these people came, they were very successful. these were the names like fallon, some of them owned slaves. there was nothing really to stop them. the church took no moral stance with the subject of slavery and they were trying to fit in and people owned slaves. there is a dark side and a happy side of the history which i tried to capture in the book. the integrated pretty well. the relevant societies of the irish, but then the 1840s, something totally different happened. it totally changed the nature of the people. this is the people digging for potatoes in the 1840s. the famine changed everything. people were dispossessed from their land, a picture from a woman who has been put from her on.

from 1846 until 1852. the potatoes which were the main staple of ireland, that was another thing that the english imposed on the irish, a one crop staple, that was pretty easy to grow and cheap and -- and allowed the tenants to eat without having them to put a lot of money into it. the famine, 3 million people on the island, they left between 1846 and 1852. 1 million of them died. entire families dying in ditches and abandoned towns, 2 million emigrated, most of them in the united states. doubly many of your families, that was probably the time when they came. they came over, it was an awful trip. they have a letter that my great grandmother wrote, came over in 1852, advising her younger brother, patrick, what he should bring her on the trip. how much water, how many potatoes.

and warned him to avoid man catchers within liverpool and not to drink before he got on the boat. just a wonderful letter that really, i put that up goes the story is getting very grim right now, i thought we could use a little bit of relief. she is lovely. so, st. louis had never seen poverty on the scale that the irish had brought to st. louis. it was -- it was largely german, at the time. it was becoming less french. and, many of the irish moved to somewhere that was owned by john landry, on the north side. that was north of washington, north of east bridge, which became kerry patch, because so many of the irish were coming over were from county kerry. and, at first, they created squatters, and then they built a brick building, this is an early picture of kerry patch. people ask about where it was.

there is no trace of it anymore. i spent a lot of time driving around and wandering around north st. louis trying to find any remnants of kerry patch, there is nothing left. there is the immigrant home which is falling down, every once in a while you will see a rowhouse, but even the streets, they have been changed. the roots, dead ends. but if you think in the terms of cass, west, all the way through jefferson, maybe east to sixth street or st. patrick's, dogtown. dogtown -- it quickly got a reputation as being "a horrible place". it was not just one slum, they were sober ones ran by irish gangs who generally reported to older men. they were political gangs, they kept discipline. the way the city thought of the town was reflected in 1870 guides to st. louis.

this is a picture from the 1870 guides from st. louis. this was a guide put up by the chamber of commerce trying to attract from st. louis. so, in the kerry patch session, it is treated like a zoo. this is the title of that picture, it is a typical kerry patch resident. and, kerry patch is described as a place occupied by firm loving people, prone to telling fantastic stories and drink. and at night, prone to punch each other's eyes out. that is about the best that i could come up with in terms of describing the irish. so, we get into the more kerry patch 13th street, none of that is there anymore.

they called them the shamrock churches, saint lawrence o'toole to the left, saint bridget of aaron, and, to the east, st. patrick's. and the three of those provided a lot of stability for the neighborhoods. and of course, they're all gone. that is one of the more complementary pictures of a typical irish family. stereotype are certainly not users to the irish. and one of the things that interested me was as i was writing the book about the irish i kept thinking, how much of the supplies were similar as to what other groups went through to try to become american. the irish headed lucky, they were basically white, spoke english, after generation they can lose, you cannot just tell by looking at somebody whether they were

catholic or not. but, stereotypes are very interesting. there are two stereotypes, really, you wouldn't think that they can coexist. the one is of the firebreathing fenian nationalist bomb throwing irishman. which actually, that is still out there during the troubles, that was a stereotype. again, the stereotype is a simple buffoon. too many kids, don, doesn't want to work, usually drunk. and on top of that, i found this very interesting. so much of american history and prejudices are based on race, or our perception of race. what we invent race to be, because they tell us that race has really no biological basis, it's more of a social phenomenon. the irish were, according to the

pseudoscience of the day, and amongst every academicians and intellectuals, they were not considered to be white. this is harper's weekly, a respected magazine in 1876. this is the cover of harpers. basically, the article was about, the title was, "the black man is the problem of the south, the irish man is the solution". and, there was this pseudo- science, that amongst all of the races of humanity, they even saw this at the world fair in 1904. but, at the very top of it, the whitest you could be was either teutonic or anglo. and there was either a descending whiteness, all the way down to other races that

are not caucasian. the irish were sort of there somewhere in the middle. with italians, and other people who were not german or english, more baltic. along with all of the other prejudices, in the 1930s, a writer actually turned the entire racing on its head and wrote a popular book called the irish race. he embraced the idea of the irish being a different race and decided to write a book about how they were wonderful as a people. embracing it, rather than rejecting it. along all of these other problems the irish are having, 1849, there is a cholera epidemic. who they blame it on. there is a fire in downtown st. louis, who is responsible. you got it. back then, it was a long time ago, people believed in

something called voter fraud. we should know this, about our history. nobody liked the irish, everybody wanted their vote. so, there were a number of riots. this is when the know nothing party was in town. very anti-catholic, anti-irish, america should be white and protestant. in 1854, there was a right. somebody in north st. louis at a voting poll, president, where people vote, they accuse the irish of voting fraud, somebody pulled out a good nice, somebody gets stabbed and three days of writing occurs. 1854. fighting was hand-to-hand, people were killed, all the way

out to where the convention center was, from the riverfront. i never learned about this in school. they threatened to burn down the entire cathedral, the priest put a cannon in front of the front door at the old cathedral threatening to fired into the crowd. we've all heard about hibernians, they were organized as the paramilitary group. that's why haber many trappers are called divisions. the hibernians were armed and fighting as well. it took three days, good many irish homes and shops were burned down and he created some bad will. on the other hand, there is a happy saint patrick's day parade in the 1870s. the neighborhood had a lot of cohesion, and a lot of positives. it was a neighborhood that was

very, very close knit. and people helped other people. this is funny, this reflects the mentality of the irish. one of the things about being irish is there is a very strange kind of dark sense of humor that permeates irish culture. and, the deadpan, straight face. and, they are people, who escaped queen victoria, mostly, during that time, they proclaim kerry patch and the king. they passed the title onto his son, right after the civil war, amanda that was named dennis sheehan. he could write in kerry patch. he had a saloon, he was the postmaster. he was also the person who was very well respected and several disputes within the neighborhood, he went to jail because he was pro- southern, when he came out, he

decided to proclaim him the king of kerry patch. so, there was a three day celebration. there was a lot of unemployment. people had time on their hands. so, for three days, mostly at night, i should say, there was a torchlight parade and i was reading articles in the globe democrat about these torchlight parades. 10,000 people with torchlight's winding their way to the streets of kerry patch, with dennis sheehan on his throne, a chair. and they are singing songs. this is so irish! and, they list this in the globe democrat, the signs that they were singing. and my favorite was that you imagine, 10,000 irishman. i think it was involved. singing the song called "oh why

do they dig my mother's grave so deep". is tears in their eyes, and dennis sheehan on a chair. the role of the irish in st. louis during the civil war is complicated. and, in many northern cities, the irish associated and identified with the union army and the union side. st. louis was having a very southern flavor to it at the time, and many of the irish in st. louis, many of them from the early days owned places. i learned, sadly, that archbishop kenrick owned three slaves and i actually called of the archdiocese and i confirmed that it is true. i wondered why, how could that be. how can you get to be in

archbishop and enslave people. come to another country, and on people? and the best explanation that i got, really, they were first of all, the church did not have any position on slavery at all, sadly. also, a lot of the irish interpreted american history in terms of their own history. and many of them associated washing as being the big capital, i.e., london, and the southern people as being working people on the land like themselves. another reason was, they were afraid that slaves would compete against them and they would no longer be second to the bottom of society. and i look at this in a very disturbing way. one, look back and simply condemn the way that people thought. it was ignorant and

harmful. and it was. but, i think it is helpful to go to a step further. and try to understand what they were thinking. my grandparents, they never really talk much about race. but when my father married a protestant, it was a big deal. so, i can only imagine what their thoughts on race were. there is another aspect of being irish. here's a battle wilson creek, which is so sad. wilson creek which is south and southern missouri, a battle where on both sides, most of the shoulders were irish on both sides, confederate and irish. and that is so much a part of the irish story as well, up until the time of the troubles. irish fighting irish. and, even today, we have two saint patrick days parade.

because there were differences between the leadership of the downtown. in terms of it should be included, talking about battles, specifically. my grandfather was involved, he came to america because it was participating in a rebellion outside of dublin. they came over in the steerage and ended up up in st. louis. there were so many rebellions, the rebellion of 1798. there was a rebellion of 1867. the rebellion of easter rising in 19 16. and, every case, there is an adjective that goes before irish rebellion and it failed.

failed rebellion. in 1867, the irish being a clever people as they are, had the ingenious plan to free ireland. it was obedience, a number of st. louis people involved as well. stick with me. to invade canada, to capture the state of canada and hold it hostage? you are laughing. and, the only way that england could get canada back, and they would wanted that. because it is canada. it is to free ireland. they actually invaded. and failed. this is the irish in 1904.

general grant later, they moved to the suburbs over generations, they have jobs, they have respectable's, they have second-generation, they lost their phones, they got a shoeshine haircut, being americans. but, there were a couple of times as i did my research, it was moving, actually. starting to realize that the irish americans and the irish irish were starting to become two different people. and over a beer and the irish americans, they were irish. you know? but, the larger scope, they were becoming americans. in the 1904 fair, the people who put the building together, one of them, they wanted to show in 1904, that ireland was a

modern-day country that was capable of being independent from england. movement was very strong. it was a cultural movement led by gains, and there was irish culture and irish music and irish industry. the other half of the people that fear together, they wanted to have goat rides on trails, past rosy cheeks colleen and heartbroken tenors. to now all of the stereotypes. they had a band by the name of 64 sober irishman. as if, where do they find 64 sober irishman. john mclaughlin, i'm sure your grandparents all had it. minded.

and, he was going to go on stage . he was supposed to follow a guy with a putty nose and a red fright wig, and that guy goes or i go. they said he needs to go back to ireland. there was that. but the funny thing was, all of the people coming from kerry patch and dogtown, st. louis irish, they thought the stuff was hilarious. they like laughing at themselves. they thought it was funny, because to them, they felt more american than irish and they did not feel threatened by that. look, a drunken irishman. ha. and look at the experience to be able to laugh at it. not like the irish. in 1882, there was a failed prophet float, it was not a st. louis irish. 1882, the veil prophet float, the night before, the hibernians actually saw the float and gathered a bunch of people to bring down so that it

would not be the next day in the parade. they worked it out and they took the float out. but the float was. it was st. patrick standing on a little rock, blessing a bar fight. so, that was rough. that was rough! and, they took it out and there was a lot of publicity and can't the irish take a joke? they call themselves neck and patty, how come we can't? the irish doctor wrote to the paper, he said, it's true, we do college other mick, patty. we do enjoy our stereotypes. but that is for us. it is too early. we need more time. we are a free and independent country. then we can laugh and we'll see the humor. another

instance was in 1916. europe was at war, with germany. england was fighting germany. we were on the verge of tooting the draft. england made a terrible mistake after suppressing the easter rising of executing 16 of its leaders, shot them, at the tire tower. got terrible press all over the world for that. sickness was on the route, where irish artists, irish politicians, it was such a big irish population. the coliseum on jefferson. there was a huge rally. 1916. and, the german society was there with the irish society,

and the hibernians, and the entire point was to argue the young irish-american men should not enlist in the u.s. army to fight in world war i alongside the british. the germans had never occupied ireland. the english had. we had no fight with the germans, the fight was still and would always be with the english until ireland was a free and united country. and, there was a lot of applause and you know, people expressing the favorite irish-american young man enlisted at the same rate or higher than other people. that was the indication that yes, they love identifying with irish people. but, they consider themselves to be more american than irish. another thing, by 1918, the end of the world war i, kerry patch

is not exclusively irish anymore. other people were coming in, other poor people. people from eastern europe, african americans moving into the neighborhood. so, it becomes more difficult. who is irish, anyway? part of the book is about identity, as well. over the course of the book, i meant a lot of people. doing book signings and things, well, my name is wagner, but my mother's side is flanagan. i love that. how do you determine the first generation? it's easy to see. they dress funny and talk funny and they live in one part of time down. but, i met americans this is america. and you can identify in any way that you want and if you want

to be irish, you go right ahead and do it because you are welcome. bad man, good catholic boys, but bad man. this is -- this is hogan on the left, with a couple of his guys, a lot of crime, organized. i say organized crime, they really weren't organized. the biggest nemesis was egan's rat, you all kerry patch that. they prohibition them, he retired from crime and spent 40 years in missouri legislature. >> [ applause ] smith yeah, there is so many punchlines. i'm not even going to go there. >> many of these, the stories of when they are shot, they call for the bishop, to give them the last rites. they are just wonderful stories.

and egan's wrath, and jelly rogan, they killed each other off. but at least they did not have much to do with it. and so, by the late 1920s, 1929, they are practically nonexistent as gangs. and gangsters need work as well. one gangsters fall apart you freelance. al capone in chicago was looking for some boys, came up to chicago, taking up for a job on valentines day. egan's wrath, i almost said hogan's heroes. they had a reputation of being real professionals. so, this is one of my favorite pictures. to me, this is one of my pictures of irish st. louis. you have police officers, priest , leprechauns in the band.

this is the 1930s at st. patrick's. you have a politician in there. so, by this time, they are getting pretty well assimilated. one of the things that contributed, this was a surprise . by the end of the first world war, pianos started to go out of style in the parlors. by 1918, they were getting sophisticated designs. but, it was still pretty rough. not a lot of frequencies can cut through. one of the frequencies that could was the frequency of an irish tenor. irish records were very popular , my girl is an irish girl. it is a laundry to temporary.

all of my wild irish roads. very popular songs. and irish cultures started getting into peoples parlors. it was interesting, and kind of strange. today, pat connolly tavern, st. patrick's day, i called the book "the irish in st. louis from shanti to lace curtain". because to me, it serves the experience. n, nei er one of these as a compliment being chanty or lace curtain, neither one of them was a complete compliment. the shedding means you j that expands the experience. i remember hearing some fans -- neither one of this is a compliment. shanti, means that you just got off the boat. you are rough and crude.

lace curtain, implies, as my mom used to say, you forgot where you came from. she used to say, a little big for your britches. even today, irish americans yo identify themselves -- the si reason people consider or identify, when we meet somebody with an irish name, we wink. like at a club. basically is the power of the sh history behind it. how they were told and retold. any irish would tell you that es it gets better every time it is told. that still carries on thtoday. also, the culture and the music. these are the kinds of things, the english could not take stories away. those would be passed on.

when i left home, i will wrap this up and take questions. my mom, when i left home at 18 years old, she made an embroidery for me that she embroidered and framed. it is hung on my wall. every place i ever lived over the last 55 years, or however long it has been, it is the same. you know the , corny sayings, mr the wind be at your back? l may your pockets be full of potatoes. may the devil not know you are, blah, blah, blah. this is what my mother embroidered for me. may those who love us, love us' may those who don't love us, may god turn their hearts. if they don't turn their hearts, maybe turned their ankles? bo

to me, it captures the whole chip on the shoulder spirit. you got something to say about that? a lot of you know what i am talking about. so, it is a quarter till. we have the room until noon. we have a couple microphones onl either side. i asked that you either go to a microphone, or emily, will brinh the microphone to you. any questions? oh, come on. did i explain everything that clearly? yes, sir. please. please. no, she is just --

>> i think i really love the distinction you make between or irish americans and the irish. i think that i was raised by irish descendents who came over before the famine. we were always taught to root for the underdogs and to remember where we came from. i just want to see if you have any experience with folks of irish heritage, really understanding where we came from? to work towards helping to liberate those among us, who still sort of suffer the indignities that we suffered in the 19th and early 20th centuries? how that might play out? thank you. >> i see it as most is probably

-- the majority of irish in st. louis are, roman catholic. i see that mostly in the parishes, probably? holy redeemer, has a pretty rich irish heritage from its early days, and i think that a lot of the charity work and t work that comes out of the parish, is evident there. wa unfortunately, a lot of the history of the irish in st. louis, in the united states, too, they have spent so much n time trying to establish themselves, it was later in the history that they have the luxury, i think, to focus on the plight of other people.

there was so much struggle into the 20th century, and there is f still, anti-catholicism out ir there. not in st. louis, because there are hundreds of thousands of catholics in st. louis. i'm writing a book and there are parts of missouri now where people think it is weird to be irish or catholic. a lot of the energy that the irish spent, was trying to bring themselves up from their own bootstraps. it is a good point. i am glad you had that experience. yes? i can repeat the question. ve here we go. >> i have not had the opportunity of reading your book at. my cousin is going through it, then she will give it to me

after that. >> no, do not read hers. we are selling them after the speech. >> i wonder if you went into any depth with where the patch was and how it came about? i asked that, because i have the opportunity of meeting m. denny long, very casually at an his son's restaurant. after a 20 minute laughable conversation, fell madly in love with the man. ws he did mention the patch and k how much it meant to him. my husband and i drive around there and we ask people, is this the patch? nobody knows. >> yeah. it's confusing. he tis wonderful. he attended think column kill.

the archdiocese made sure everyh block had a catholic church for every ethnic group. for me, i thought the patch was, carry patch. that was also abbreviated to, patch. the patch was along michigan. very small, very irish. it was nestled between a spanish and german neighborhood. a lot of irish came up through new orleans on their way to st. louis. they will look off the boat, to the left, they would see smokestacks and factories. basically, let me off here. it looks like there is work here. they built ships there.

works. very dangerous places. the factories were always blowing up. they were vendors. a solid irish community settled down there. kind of a long michigan and the streets along both sides. it's not that big. that's interesting. you know about the patch? a lot of people don't. i did not. yes? >> one of the things that mr. long said, how the third bush treated him, and held it against him that he was from er the patch. t >> we did not talk about that. i know that they had a lot of

pride. denny, mike, dan flynn, they actually went to ireland. made budweiser. de like the number one blogger in ireland. they bought the derby, the c horse race. they established great relationships with the irish. in business, denny was telling o me a lot about how close the irish and irish americans in ireland do overseas business together. ireland being the only irish speaking eu country now, it's a natural gateway to europe. a close affinity for americans and particularly irish americans, and the irish should we did not talk much about mr. bush or his feelings. yeah.

interesting cultural dynamics going on there. >> in the old times, the rich ca english people, they wanted land to hunt and it was in ireland. so they captured people that' they would call irish, to run their plantations. is that true? >> yes. >> i want to know where did is they capture the people who were slaves? what country did d they come from? >> i did not run into that. what i did run into, there was a landgrab in the north. that's why they threw off all of the irish aristocracy. moved to english aristocracy.

basically, what the english did, they took the land and consolidated it throughout the famine. theyy did not own their own land, they rented. m when the famine came, they threw them off the land. ie they consolidated. they were more like sharecroppers than slaves. when it was not economically feasible to have them live on their land, they would throw them out. they did. 1 million of them died in ditches along the road. in fact, the irish do not call it the famine. hr the gaelic word for what happened back then, was -- it's literally, the great hunger. a famine implies it is somehow an act of god. that happened with a quirk of i nature.

but this implies it was more of a genocide. it was the ultimate solution that the english employed against the irish, to get rid of them. the 17th century, oliver carmel, you never mentioned his name in an irish pub. he told his troops that -- they killed hundreds of thousands of irish, going village to village, to massacre there. they cut down half the trees in ireland. he told his s troops that the i irish really were not human beings. beneath their close, they have tails. it kinda makes you mad when you think about it. we do it today. an it's not just the english. or eliminating the enemy's humanity, you know, it is easier to do whatever you

want. i think we have time for an upper. yes? d >> i listened to a podcast once about a african-american community, they were the poorest people, but they pulled all of their money and send it to ireland for the famine. they could relate to the genocide. did you hear of ndthat? >> no, i did not. >> it was just the past year. i don't know if it was to hear? it was some kind of podcast. here you have the poorest at american sending the money to ireland because they felt so much compassion. >> that is a wonderful story. i talked to so many irish/irish, they said that ireland would not have become a free country if it were not for

the money that people from the u.s. sent to ireland to buy guns. during the civil war, a lot of irish served in the confederacy and the union, learned warfare. they went back to ireland to fight for irish freedom. there always has been a strong connection between the two countries. >> i want to add, the turkey, cherokee very much sent food. my relatives still revere the american indian because of that. >> maybe it was the american indian? >> it was. >> this is where i get a lot of good material for the second edition. were you when i was writing this book? those are wonderful stories. do we have time for another question? we have a couple minutes left.

yes? oh, boy. that is tough. pat connolly's is great. -- helped me launch the book. ha we had the opening there. it is hard to decide. n' how do you decide? they are all in my heart. how can you love one more than the other? the best thing about pat connolly's, they do not make a big deal about being irish. e they were in the book, too. we don't have shamrocks on the walls. pu we are just irish and everybody knows it. we do not make a big deal out of it. it is low key, beneath the radar. yes? >> you mentioned that m?there an irish tenor around 1900? his name is, john.

did you mean, john mccormick? >> i did. that is who i met. >> that is what i thought. do you want a good irish song? >> john mccormick. thank you for keeping me honest. i appreciate it. john mccormick. in thank you. i will not make that mistake r. again. how many people out there during these talks have been polite and did not say anything? you are a tenor. re do you mind singing of something? let's finish it up with a good irish song. >> thank you. this song was before john mccormick. it was a song title,

londonderry her. they later changed it to, oh, danny boy. ♪ oh danny boy, the pipes, the pipes, our calling. from glenn to glenn and down the mountainside. the summer is gone and all of the leaves have fallen. it is you, it is you, must go, and i must abide. coming back, when summer is in the meadow. or, when the valleys is white with snow. if i will be here in sunshine,

or in shadow? oh, danny boy. oh, danny boy, i love you so. om when he calm, all of the flowers are dying. if i am dead, as dead, i may e well be. here, and find the place where i am buying, be there for me. i shall here, my grave -- for he will burn and tell me that he loves me, and i shall sleep

in peace until you come to me. ♪ the family has. thank you all so muc >> i apologize because i am not irish. >> i cannot top that. i cannot top that. thank you, for coming. i believe that we are moving upstairs? if you have a book i would be happy to sign it. i will write anything that you want in it. you have been delightful. thank you, so much.

this fall, watch c-span's new series, books that shaped america. in partnership with the library of congress, which first created the books that shaped the u.s. the 10 books featured have provoked thought. won awards. led to significant societal changes. they are still talked about today. hear from renowned experts who will shed light on the profound impact of these works. they're intricately tied to the celebrated authors and their unforgettable books. common sense, thomas paine. huckleberry finn, mark twain. their eyes were watching god, his or her sin. free to choose, milton and rose friedman.

watch our series. books that shaped america. monday, september 18th. on c-span. join us on thursday for a preview of books that shaped america with librarian of congress carla hayden. and douglas brinkley. carla hayden is a 14 librarian of congress. douglas brinkley teaches that rice university. he has authored or edited books of famous americans. what's a preview of our new series, books that shaped america. thursday. live at 7:00 p.m. eastern. on c-span.

c-span shop . apparel, books, home to core, accessories. there is something for every c- span fan. shop now. weekends on c-span 2, every saturday, american history tv, documents another story. on sundays, tv, brings you the latest nonfiction books and authors. funding comes from these television companies and more. including, comcast. >> do you think this is a community center? it is way more than that. >> wi-fi enabled so families can get the tools they need to

get read