Where do we go from Here?

revisiting Black Irish Relations and RESPONDING to a transnational moment

Presented by New York University 

Glucksman Ireland House and the Gallatin School of Individualized Study

Conference Schedule* 

People of Irish and African descent have lived in the United States for more than four centuries. Their respective trajectories -- marked bycomplexity, conflict, and collaboration -- have been shaped by American conceptions of identity, hierarchies of belonging, and access to pathways of upward mobility. The aim of this conference and programing is to examine the constellations of Blackness and Irishness in the history of the United States and beyond and use their example to ponder present conundrums around race, ethnicity, inequality and identitypolitics.

  

Friday, 5 November 2021

9-10am ET 

Welcome and opening remarks, Provost of NYU Katherine E. Fleming and conference organizers Kim DaCosta(Gallatin) and Miriam Nyhan Grey (Glucksman).

10.15-11.30am ET 

Jane Ohlmeyer, Trinity College Dublin, “Irishness, Blackness and the Early Modern World”. Introduced byProvost Fleming.

11.45am-1pm ET 

Kevin Kenny, New York University, “The American Irish and Race in the Nineteenth Century”. MilleryPolyné, New York Universit

BREAK

2-3.15pm ET 

Christine Kinealy, Quinnipiac University, “'Be strikingly genteel': Two Black Women Abolitionists in Ireland,Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield and Sarah Parker Remond”. Moderated by Stephen Small, UC Berkeley.

3.30-4.45pm ET 

Kim DaCosta, New York University. Moderated by Liam Kennedy, University College DublinClinton Institute.

Register here for November 5 sessions

Friday, 12 November 2021

9-10.15am ET 

Nikhil Singh, New York University, “Ireland in the Crucible of Race”. Moderated by

Kathleen Coll, University of San Francisco/New York University.

10.30-11.45am ET 

Elisa Joy White, UC Davis, “Céad Míle Fáilte: When Blackness in Ireland Seemed New Again”. BryanFanning, University College Dublin.

12-1.15pm ET 

Chanté Mouton Kinyon, Notre Dame University. Moderated by Anna McCarthy, New York University.

BREAK

 2-3.30pm ET 

Tenement Museum New York: African American and Irish American New York Revisited: Annie Polland (Director, Tenement Museum); Leslie Harris (Northwestern University) and David Favaloro (Tenement Museum).Introduced by Joy Bivins, NYPL Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

 3.45pm-5.15pm ET 

Black Irish Cultural Renderings and Responses: Lauren Onkey (George Washington University), Mick Moloney (New York University), Lenwood Sloan (African American Irish Diaspora Network). Moderated by Bill Ferris,Emeritus, University of North Carolina. Introduced by John Waters, New York University.

Register herfor November 12 sessions

Friday, 19 November 2021

9-9.15am ET 

Welcome and opening remarks, Lisa Coleman, NYU’s Senior Vice President for Global Inclusion and StrategicInnovation.

9.15-10.15am ET 

Emma Dabiri (author of Twisted/Don't Touch My Hair and What White People Can Do Next) inconversation with Kim DaCosta and Miriam Nyhan Grey.

10.30am-11.45am ET 

Rachel SwarnsNew York Times/New York University, “The Irish-American Priests who Sold Human Beings: Georgetown University, the Catholic Church and the American Slave Trade”. Moderated by Stephanie McCurry,Columbia University.

12--1.15pm ET 

Miriam Nyhan Grey, New York University


BREAK

 2-3.15pm ET 

Touré Reed, Illinois State University. Introduced by James R. Barrett, Emeritus, University of Illinois).

3.30-4.45pm ET 

James Carroll (National Book awardee) “The Politics of White Supremacy: A View from Irish Boston”.

5-6pm ET 

Ruth Negga (leading actor in Loving (2016) and Passing (2021) in conversation with Kim DaCosta and MiriamNyhan Grey.

Register herfor 19 November sessions

This conference is presented in partnership with Brademas Center (NYU), Office of Global Inclusion, Diversity, and Strategic Innovation (NYU), Department of History (NYU), Center for the Study of Africa and the African Diaspora (NYU), Institute for Public Knowledge (NYU), Deans for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NYU), UCD Clinton Institute, African American Irish Diaspora Network (AAIDN), Consulate of Ireland (NY), Embassy of Ireland (Washington DC), NYPL Schomburg Centerfor Research in Black Culture, Tenement Museum New York, the Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities atColumbia University, Irish Network Against Racism (INAR) and Black and Irish.

We encourage you to continue these conversations and actions by engaging with our partner organizations and we especially draw your attention to the work of the African American Irish Diaspora Network (see www.aaidnet.org) andthe Black, Brown and Green Voices report.

 

*Timing of the lecture by Sir Hilary Beckles (University of West Indies) TBD