Black, Brown and Green Voices Series: Jude Hughes

As part of the Black, Brown and Green Voices Series in collaboration with NYU's Glucksman Ireland House, the African American Irish Diaspora Network and NYPL Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, this program presented a public interview with longtime Irish activist and advocate with The Association of Mixed Race Irish, Mr. Jude Hughes. This event marked the start of Black History Month in the US.

Jude was born in a Mother and Baby Home in Dublin in 1941. The rest of his childhood was spent in institutions. At 16, he trained as a tailor in Dublin and went to work in Dublin, where he continues to serve the community with his craftsmanship. In the 1980s Jude became a founding member of one of the first anti-racism groups in Ireland and has continued that work ever since. In this interview, Jude will share some of his experiences and insights as he reflects on the changes he has seen in Ireland over eight decades.

Black, Brown and Green Voices represents a documentation strategy and public humanities initiative which aims to amplify the diversity of the Irish diaspora by recording interviews with Black and Brown Irish Americans and those who speak to the Black experience in Ireland and the Irish diaspora. The project director is historian Dr. Miriam Nyhan Grey who has been affiliated with New York University since 2008 and is a founding board member of the African American Irish Diaspora Network.

Jude Hughes was born in Dublin 1941 to parents he never knew. He grew up in industrial schools, before choosing tailoring as a profession. He has been active all his life with organisations involved in fighting for equality. 

Full video about Hughes at The Irish Times.