The Irish Hunger Memorial

Located in downtown Manhattan, the Irish Hunger Memorial literally radiates serenity. However, its striking contrast with the surrounding cityscape is jarring. The Irish Hunger Memorial immediately evokes thoughts of New York City’s history with both religion and immigration. Composed of typical Irish green farmland, fences, and limestone walls, the memorial provides visceral sensations about what it was like for the Irish to immigrate to New York City in order to escape the famine.  At first glance, the large patch of grass seems out of place. Upon closer inspection, it clearly conveys the out of place feeling immigrants must have initially felt when reaching New York.

Due to the beautiful view of the buildings across the water, it is easy to simply go to the memorial, take pictures against the skyline, and disregard the memorial’s significance. However, even this aspect of the memorial is arguably intentional because that is exactly what happened to the Irish immigrants in New York. As they were of the lowest class in society, they were often overlooked and disregarded entirely.

The Irish that immigrated to America were mostly Catholic which helps explain how Catholicism gradually became accepted in society. Prior to this time, Catholicism was looked upon with suspicion because of the religion’s devotion to the Pope. In fact, America has a strong history of anti-Catholicism. In essence, this memorial is evidence that America, more specifically New York, not only is tied to the Irish Catholics, but also that America has overcome its Anti-Catholic notion.

Another important element of the memorial is that it is untraditional. Depending where one enters from, there are no giant signs stating one’s location. In fact, it may take a few minutes to realize the giant patch of grass and stone, is a memorial. Veering from tradition demonstrates America’s changed view of Irish immigrants. America has a fresh perspective and Irish immigrants are no longer viewed as the lowest social class in the North.

Additionally, the people represented by the memorial are some of the same people, or at least ancestors of the same people who are represented in Jacob Riis photos entitled, “How the Other Half Lives.”  The people immigrating to New York City in their fight for survival during the famine are poverty stricken. In New York they will live in tenement houses and add to the mass of unskilled workers during Industrialization. These are the vulnerable, marginalized society members that Dorothy Day writes about wanting to help in, “The Long Loneliness.”

After sitting on the grass, reflecting on the memorial’s message, it also conveys the idea that although tragedy such as famine strikes a specific location, the impacts of that tragedy function similarly to the shockwaves of an earthquake that resonate throughout the world. In New York the impact was a surge of Irish immigrants. Furthermore, by reminding viewers of the famine, it calls citizens to take action and fight against world hunger. Drawing upon that line of thought, this memorial asks its viewers to put into action the Jesuit traditions embodied by Fordham.