African and Irish Diaspora Arts and Culture:
Shared Histories and Futures
The African American Irish Diaspora Network (AAIDN) is a 501(c)(3) organization, whose mission is to foster progressive relationships between African Americans and Ireland through shared heritage and culture. It is estimated that roughly a third of African Americans have some Irish ancestry, and AAIDN is working to build a community through which Irish and African Americans can connect not only through that ancestry, but also via other affinities to work for peace, human rights and economic empowerment for people throughout the world. AAIDN has received support from Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs in association with its Diverse Global Diaspora policy initiative.
Coming to these shores under radically different circumstances, African and Irish histories in America overlap in many ways. As with America itself, the relationship between African and Irish Americans was shaped by slavery and its aftermath. The links between the two cultures, good and bad, would have a profound impact on America and the world in unique and lasting ways, many stories of which have gone untold. Some of the antagonistic aspects of the shared history are better known. However, the overlapping cultural influences also produced bluegrass music and tap dance, along with people like Frederick Douglass, Beyoncé, Barack and Michelle Obama, Muhammad Ali, and Patrick Francis Healey. These are the stories we want to tell, and the shared heritage and culture we want to build on.
The shared history amongst the African and Irish Diasporas is now increasingly being recognized, researched, debated and discussed. This exploration offers unique opportunities for a shared appreciation and understanding of these intersections and a chance to create a sense of common purpose going forward for all. The Arts present a deep well of opportunities to acknowledge, illuminate, investigate and to honor these intersections. Art, music, poetry, literature, the performing arts, etc., offer a “meeting place” where people of diverse backgrounds and points of view can gather with interest, eagerness and openness. Because many of the ingredients of these stories are revelatory to many, there is a natural inclination to see, hear and experience the stories with curiosity in a way that has appeal to a broad and receptive global audience. The implications—artistically, culturally, socially—that rise from this extensive exploration into hearts and minds provide a bridge for “future-mapping” and mutual understanding around these realities that generates a reflexive response.
In this space, AAIDN is serving as a significant convener of scholars, artists, and cultural institutions that are bringing a new focus to this shared cultural development. Our work and initiatives in arts and culture are developing new pathways for cross cultural understanding, compassion and respect, including new exhibitions, performances and documentary presentations.
A current, major AAIDN initiative is to research, document and illuminate critical intersections of Irish and African culture beginning in the 17th century through today, including current interactions that are generating new frameworks of artistic expression. There are four main geographic “points” of the compass of the story:
England and Ireland
Africa
The Caribbean / West Indies
North/South America
The common threads that bind them are commerce in commodities of sugar, cotton, rum, and mahogany and others, fueled and sustained through the commerce and institutionalization of chattel slavery; transformative journeys throughout and around the Atlantic, and the pursuit of freedom, self-determination and human rights.Against this backdrop are counternarratives of inspiring and uplifting stories that speak to our common humanity.
AAIDN held its inaugural Diaspora Leadership Awards Gala on September 29, 2022 in New York City, and a portion of the proceeds raised through the Gala has been devoted to this initiative, as well as other arts and cultural development programs.
As we look to the future, AAIDN has an important role to play in helping to build on the shared experiences of the African and Irish Diasporas, and particularly their experience together in America. And while there were times when Blacks and Irish were brutally pitted against one another as they both strived to realize the promise that is America, there were many times and places where Blacks and Irish bonded together, lived together, worked together, and had families together because they shared the same determination, spirit, and values. This is the foundation on which AAIDN endeavors to help build our future together, and for which we are seeking your support.