JULY/AUGUST 2000
www.celtic-connection.com
Page 7
Tenement Museum
Offers Unique View of Irish-American History
EW YORK - The Lower East Side Tenement Museum is celebrating its twelfth anniversary by honouring the Irish immigrant experience through the launch of the museum's Irish Family Apartment. This important exhibit is the first permanent display of Irish-American domestic life in an American historic site.
The heart of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum is its landmark tenement building located at 97 Orchard Street, which was home to 7,000 people from 20 nations, between 1863 to 1935.
Observers in the 1860s and 1870s reported that New York was the most Irish of cities in the United States and almost one quarter of the city's residents were born in Ireland.
Immigrants from Ireland have been settling in New York since the early Seventeenth Century. Many of the first Irish immigrants were Protestants from the North, among them the first mayor of New York City, James Duane.
In fact, New York City enforced a rigid penal code against Catholics until 1784, providing for disen-franchisement of "papists" and imprisonment or death for "priests or Jesuits.
Many of the early Irish Catholic immigrants had to hide their religion, vet this proud group of immigrants still managed to establish the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in 1766.
Beginning in February of 1847, Irish emigrants began leaving their home country in droves, trying to escape the Great Famine on ships headed for Britain, Canada and the United States. Of those who reached shore, the largest number disembarked in New York.
The U.S. Commission for Emigration listed 52,946 Irish arriving in 1847 just between the months of May and December (as against 37,000 in Boston). Before they reached Manhattan, they had to spend a 30-day period in quarantine on Staten Island, as many had brought typhus with them.
Like their predecessors, these newcomers were not popular. The "native" New Yorkers objected
that these peasant newcomers -who seemed to keep on coming -were desperately poor, uneducated, unskilled, sometimes not even English-speaking (most from the West spoke Gaelic), and of course, Catholic.
Faced with signs reading "No Irish Need Apply," the new Irish immigrants took whatever work they could find - ditch digging, stevedore work, and other manual labour. In fact, the majority of the men who built the Brooklyn Bridge were poor labouring Irishmen, many of whom died of the bends during construction.
The women - unique among immigrant groups as single women who emigrated in large numbers - took in washing or worked as domestic servants and seamstresses.
While some persons and institutions born out of the Irish American community on the Lower East Side are well-known, the life and stories of these "ordinary" Irish men and women remain virtually unexplored.
The Lower East Side Tenement Museum's Irish Apartment will provide an in-depth look at this large and influential community through the eves of one Irish fam-ily.
For more information, visit their website at www.tenement .org, or call (212) 431-0233.
3SS
A FINAL TRIBUTE TO FRANK PATTERSON
DUBLIN - Hundreds of mourners attended Requiem Mass in St Patrick's Cathedral in New York before the remains of tenor Frank Patterson were returned to Ire-
land for burial. He succumbed to a five month battle with a serious illness when he died in hospital in New York on June 10. He is survived by his wife, pianist Eily
THE LATE FRANK PATTERSON (L) with his wife Eily O'Grady at his last concert in Seattle two years ago when he shared top billing with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. Also pictured with them is Maurice Eviston (R) of Vancouver who went to school with Frank in his hometown of Clonmel.
O'Grady, his son Eamonn and his mother.
Patterson was renowned for his interpretations of the works of John McCormack. Probably his greatest audience was when he sang at the Papal Mass in Dublin's Phoenix Park during the Pope's visit to Ireland in 1979.
His numerous recordings - many gold and platinum - reflect a broad repertoire ranging from the classics to traditional and contemporary favourites.
He performed throughout Europe, North America and Australia with sell-out concerts in the Royal Albert Hall, London, Symphony Hall Boston, and the Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto.
In Dublin, President McAleese and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern attended his funeral Mass in the Pro-Cathedral.
The cortege then proceeded to his hometown of Clonmel, where hundreds lined the streets to pay their respects to a well-loved man.
The final tribute was at the graveside when the huge crowd joined with the band in singing his favourite song, Sllevenamon.
- Sources: The Irish Times, The Irish Emii/rant
Tuesday JULY 18th
Trad. miisicJromNewfoundland, contemporary soTigsJrom Wales
MahersBahers, MartynJoseph
Rogue Polk Club
Vancouver's best Celtic/'Folk/'RootsMusic at The W.I.S.E. Hall (1882Adanac St. »
Monday JULY 17th
(Jericho Hill Recreation Centre) Learn Irishfiddlejhite, guitar, bonzouku accordion, bodhran
Danu - workshops
Wednesday JULY 19th
Ireland's "Group of the Year 1999"in concert Dont miss it!
Danu
Thursday JULY20th
Gypsyfiddle andflamenco guitar meetthesurf, salsa, and jigs!
Willie & Lobo
Friday JULY28th
BrOlkmtScvttishguitarist
Tony McManus
Saturday JULY 29th
Exciting Cetacbandfrom Wales
Carreg Lafar
Saturday AUGUST 19th
American singer/songwriter with solidBlues roots
Chris Smither
Sunday September 3rd
Parisian chansons, gypsy guitars, Africanrhythms&more
Paris Combo
Thurs. September 14th
CetticmusicfromAsturiain Spain A stunning sextet
Llan de Cubel
Sunday September 17th
(Capilano College Auditorium) From County Sligo, one ofEire's verybesttrad. Celtic bands
Dervish
Tickets at Black Swan, Highlife, Rufus', Virgin Info. / Reservations 736-3022;www.roguefolk.bc.ca
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