Our Mission

The mission of the African American Irish Diaspora Network is to foster relationships between African Americans and Ireland through shared heritage and culture. It will create a framework for people to strengthen their identity and connection with the Irish Diaspora, engage with Irish culture, business and issues, communicate with one another, and provide opportunities to travel to the Island to experience its rich beauty and history.

 
 
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Our Journey

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 these people 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, Beyonce, Barack and Michelle Obama, Muhammad Ali, Alicia Keys, and Patrick Francis Healey. These are the stories we want to tell, and the the shared heritage and culture we want to build on.

 
 

I can truly say, I have spent some of the happiest moments of my life since landing in this country. I seem to have undergone a transformation. I live a new life.

Frederick Douglass, as he was concluding his historic stay in Ireland in 1845

 
 
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Connecting our Heritage and our future

We will provide a framework for the exchange of information, research, exploration and connection; a forum for discussion of mutual cultural, social and political interests; collaboration in entrepreneurship, science and technology between African Americans and Ireland, and a pathway for deeper engagement in our journey forward.