• DAY ONE • 

Hibernian Hunger
Project Event: 

Location: Honickman Learning Center and Comcast Technology Labs
Description: They committed to helping Sister Mary Scullion, Director of Project Home, among other charities. They created Breakfast and snack packs for families with children. The Hibernian Hunger Project is a national project of the LAOH and the AOH that was formed in Philadelphia. In the past they have held “cook-ins” where they have prepared up to 10,000 meals for various shelters, schools, age related charities, etc. 

Student and
Educator Session

Documentary Viewing
and Q&A with Rebecca L. Abbott, Professor of Communications
Department of Film, Television and Media Arts, Quinnipiac University

Opening of Conference & Documentary Screening

Ireland’s Great Hunger and the Irish Diaspora,
Location: Ritz East – 125 S 2nd St, Philadelphia, PA 

About the Documentry:
Ireland’s Great Hunger and the Irish Diaspora is a documentary that presents not just the potato failure that lead to mass starvation, death, and emigration in Ireland, but the historical, social and political circumstances that made what is misleadingly called the Great “Famine” almost inevitable. The documentary, which is narrated by actor Gabriel Byrne, views the history of An Gorta Mòr partly through the eyes of descendants of those who survived it, and also descendants of those who fled during it through the Canadian quarantine station at Grosse Ile, Quebec in 1847, and those whose maternal ancestors emigrated to Australia under the Earl Grey scheme, 1849 – 52.

The documentary is filmed and edited by Rebecca Abbott and co-produced by Liam O’Brien, both of Quinnipiac University’s Film, Video & Interactive Media Department.

Welcome: Kathy McGee Burns, President of the Irish Memorial

Opening remarks:

Honorary Co-Chairs: James F. Kenney, Mayor of Philadelphia; Barbara Jones, Consul General of Ireland; Professor Christine Kinealy Phd, Academic Advisor to the 2016 Great Hunger Symposium and Director of Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute, Quinnipiac University

Candlelight march to the Irish Memorial Site, led by Emerald Pipe Band, Blessing of the Irish Memorial by Rev. Edward Brady and others.

At site: Traditional Irish Music by Glengesh

• DAY TWO •

Hunger on Trial:

Location: Court Room 676, City Hall
Description: An activity on the Irish Potato Famine and Its meaning for today. A mock trial with Hon. Patrick F. Dugan, judge, Philadelphia Municipal Court, and various attorneys and law students

The Groups:

British Landlords; Irish Tenant Farmers; Anglican Church; British Government and “Political Economy”- The System of Colonial Capitalism

Following the Trial

Location: The Irish Memorial Front Street and Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106  

Presentation:

Causes of An Gorta Mor: James J. Murphy, PhD, Director Emeritus, Villanova University’s Irish Studies Program and Philadelphia’s Irish Memorial: James J. Coyne, Jr., President Emeritus, The Irish Memorial, Inc.
Location: Philadelphia Irish Center: 6815 Emlen St, Philadelphia, PA 19119 Featuring Irish Foods  with traditional Irish Music, Dancers and a poetry and/or prose reading. The story of the “Famine Pots”. Patricia McElroy, 21xdesign, On Display: A famine pot donated by John Cullen, through Patricia McElroy & Dermot MacCormack to the Irish Memorial.  The Graphic Novel, The Bad Times: An Drochshaol
Presentation: Christine Kinealy, PhD, founding director of Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute & John A. Walsh, illustrator and graphic novelist http://www.badtimesgraphicnovel.com

Philly Style Irish “Hoolie” Open to all

Location: Irish Center Showcasing the County Societies and the various Irish organizations that make the Irish Center their home. Additionally it will feature local musicians, dancers and local foods including a table of Irish favorites prepared by the seniors of the Irish Immigration Center. Exhibition by Photographer and Delaware Valley Irish Hall of Fame Member, Tom Keenan, featuring twenty selected photographs of the Irish Memorial. These prints will be part of a silent auction to benefit the Irish Immigration Center.