IBO September Evening Event
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at 6:00 PM
Bank of Ireland NYC Hub
2 Grand Central Tower, 140 E 45th Street, 41st Floor
Members FREE | Nonmembers $20
Photo ID Required at Check-In | Must Arrive by 6:30 PM
From Frederick Douglass to Paul Robeson: Black Activists in Ireland
Guest Speaker Professor Christine Kinealy
Founding Director of Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute at Quinnipiac University
Ireland is changing. According to the Central Statistics Office, 23 percent of the population of the Republic of Ireland is ‘foreign-born’. What do these changes mean for business opportunities, tourism, culture, politics, sport, and other areas of society? Does our history offer any lessons about how we welcome strangers to our shores?
This presentation will focus on a small selection of Black abolitionists, actors and activists who visited Ireland between c. 1830 and 1930—a century that witnessed slavery, Jim Crow Laws, minstrelsy, lynching, and segregation. Why did they travel to Ireland, how were they received, and how did they and Ireland change as a result of these interactions?
From Frederick Douglass to Paul Robeson will demonstrate that Ireland has a long, yet complex, history of diversity and welcoming visitors from overseas. This approach provides a fresh perspective on how Irish history has traditionally been understood while offering insights into some of the changes and challenges shaping Ireland today.
ABOUT CHRISTINE KINEALY
Professor Christine Kinealy is the founding Director of Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. A graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, Christine has researched extensively on Ireland’s Great Hunger and, more recently, the Irish Abolition movement. Her award-winning publications include Charity and the Great Hunger. The Kindness of Strangers (2013) and Heroes of Ireland’s Great Hunger (2020). In 2017, she received an Emmy for her role as Historical Adviser to the documentary Ireland’s Great Hunger and the Irish Diaspora and, in 2022, she was named Irish American of the Year by the Irish Echo (New York). By invitation of Governor Lamont, Christine is a member of the Connecticut-Ireland Trade Commission. To relax, Christine likes to walk her dog, Cú Chulainn, and to watch soccer.
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