"Where Do We Go from Here?"

November 5, 12, & 19

People of Irish and African descent have lived in the United States for more than four centuries. Their respective trajectories -- marked by complexity, 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 identity politics.

“Where Do We Go from Here? Revisiting Black Irish Relations and Responding to a Transnational Moment,” took place on three Fridays in November. The conference ran online on Friday November 5, Friday November 12 and Friday November 19. Provost of NYU, Katherine E. Fleming opened the conference.

Watch the conference recordings on the Glucksman Ireland House YouTube channel.

This program was sponsored by the Glucksman Ireland House and Gallatin School of Individualized Study. 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 Center for Research in Black Culture, Tenement Museum New York, the Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University, Irish Network Against Racism (INAR) and Black and Irish.

Learn more about this program at NYU News.

Conference Schedule

Friday, November 5, 2021

9:00am-10:00am ET | Welcome and opening remarks, Provost of NYU Katherine E. Fleming and conference organizers Kim DaCosta (Gallatin) and Miriam Nyhan Grey (Glucksman).
10:15am-11:30am ET | Jane Ohlmeyer, Trinity College Dublin, “Irishness, Blackness and the Early Modern World”. Introduced by Provost Fleming.
11:45am-1:00pm ET | Kevin Kenny, New York University, “The American Irish and Race in the Nineteenth Century”. Millery Polyné, New York University.
BREAK
2:00-3.15pm 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 Dublin Clinton Institute.

Friday, November 12, 2021

9:00-10:15am 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”. Bryan Fanning, University College Dublin.
12:00-1:15pm ET | Chanté Mouton Kinyon, Notre Dame University, “The Ties the Bind: Resistance, Rebellion, and Redemption in UpTight (1968)”. Moderated by Anna McCarthy, New York University.
BREAK
2:00-3:30pm 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.

Friday, November 19, 2021

9:00-9:15am ET | Welcome and opening remarks, Lisa Coleman, NYU’s Senior Vice President for Global Inclusion and Strategic Innovation.
9:15-10:15am ET | Emma Dabiri (author of Twisted/Don't Touch My Hair and What White People Can Do Next) in conversation with Kim DaCosta and Miriam Nyhan Grey.
10:30am-11:45am ET | Rachel Swarns, New 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.
12:00-1:15pm ET | Miriam Nyhan Grey, New York University
BREAK
2:00-3:15pm 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”.
5:00-6pm ET | Ruth Negga (leading actor in Loving (2016) and Passing (2021) in conversation with Kim DaCosta and Miriam Nyhan Grey.