Presented by Ian Delahanty, PhD
Associate Professor of History

Why did Irish immigrants, who denounced the alleged oppression of Irish people by callous landlords and British colonial authorities, act and vote in the interests of enslavers in antebellum America? Following the lead of contemporary abolitionists, historians have explained this paradox by emphasizing immigrants’ fears of labor competition with newly freed Black workers; the influence of an American Catholic hierarchy that opposed Protestant-led social reform movements; and the welcoming embrace afforded to Irish immigrants by the proslavery Democratic Party.

Drawing from portions of his newly released book, Embracing Emancipation: A Transatlantic History of Irish Americans, Slavery, and the American Union, 1840-1865, Ian Delahanty offers a novel explanation for Irish-American anti-abolitionism by uncovering the emergence of an Irish critique of abolitionism in famine-era Ireland. The Irish critique of abolitionism coalesced around Irish nationalists who viewed the transatlantic antislavery movement as neglectful of the welfare of Irish peasants and a distraction from the cause of Irish sovereignty. Amid the famine migration and simultaneous acceleration of the sectional crisis over slavery, Irish-born newspaper editors, exiled nationalists, and common workers transformed the Irish critique of abolitionism into an Irish-American critique of antislavery writ large.

This event, presented by the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, is free and open to the Springfield College community.

For questions or more information, contact Wendy Franz at wfranz@springfield.edu. If you have disability and require a reasonable accommodation to fully participate in this event, contact Franz to discuss your accessibility needs.

A Wellness Passport Event