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Like &subscribe 🙏👍💖🥳Choctaw and Irish History
Two ancient peoples. A modern-day connection. Nothing divides the Choctaw people from the Irish except for the ocean.

Both the Choctaw Nation and Ireland were, in effect, colonized by outside powers. Their ancient tongues almost became extinct, and have been rescued from oblivion and made into working languages again through concerted effort and sophisticated approaches. Both peoples have successfully preserved their cultures and traditions.

Their relationship began in 1847, when the Choctaws, who had only recently arrived over the ruinous “trail of tears and death” to what is now Oklahoma, took up a donation and collected over $5,000 (in today’s money) to support the Irish during the Potato Famine. The famine ravaged Ireland during the 1840s.

The Choctaws’ donation was sent to the town of Midleton in County Cork, south of Dublin. There, many decades later, the townspeople realized their aid had come from a people who were themselves in a very unique set of circumstances – reestablishing their society and their government after the long and painful migration.

Irish President Mary Robinson visited the Choctaw Nation in 1995 to rekindle and reestablish the friendship, and thank Choctaws for their aid to Midleton. Some years later, in 2017, a sculpture commemorating the Choctaws and their gift, known as “Kindred Spirits,” was dedicated in a beautiful park in Midleton.

In 2018, Ireland’s prime minister, or Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, visited Choctaw Nation headquarters to thank the Choctaws and initiate the first of a continuing series of yearly scholarships for Choctaw students to study in Ireland. Ireland’s Consul General visited the Choctaw Nation a year later.

In 2020 the story took a new twist when a pandemic known as the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, caused disruptions around the world. The death toll was particularly acute in the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Reservation. The Irish, stating that they were “paying it forward” with their aid from the Choctaws in mind, took up a very sizeable donation with which to aid and assist the Navajo and Hopi.

“Adversity often brings out the best in people. We are gratified – and perhaps not at all surprised – to learn of the assistance our special friends, the Irish, are giving to the Navajo and Hopi nations. Our word for their selfless act is ‘iyyikowa’ – it means serving those in need. We have become kindred spirits with the Irish in the years since the Irish Potato Famine. We hope the Irish, Navajo and Hopi peoples develop lasting friendships, as we have. Sharing our cultures makes the world grow smaller.” — Chief Gary Batton

CHOCTAW-IRISH TIMELINE
1795: Spain cedes territory north of the 31st Parallel to the United States, including the territory of the Choctaw Nation
1801: Ireland established, in effect, as a colony of Great Britain
1830: Choctaws sign the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek with the United States, ceding traditional lands in Mississippi in favor of new land in the west, in the Indian Territory
1831-1833: Choctaws emigrate to the Indian Territory over the “trail of tears and death”
1845: Crops begin failing in Ireland due to infestation of P. infestans
1845 (through 1852): Over one million people die of starvation or from disease caused by malnutrition; over one million more Irish emigrate to other countries
1847: Choctaws collect a donation of $170, over $5,000 in today’s money, with which to aid the Irish
1848: A report on the Americans’ aid to Ireland notes, “The largest part was contributed by the children of the forest, our red brethren of the Choctaw nation.”
1906: Choctaw tribal government is dissolved
1907: Oklahoma becomes a state; Choctaws become citizens of the new state
1921: Most of Ireland becomes independent from Great Britain
1976: Congress passes a law providing for the return of Indian self-government
1983: Choctaws enact a constitution and reestablish their government
1990: Choctaws leaders visit County Mayo, Ireland to participate in the first annual “Famine Walk,” a reenactment of a walk by desperate Irish to their landlord in 1848

1992: Irish visit the Choctaw Nation and participate in a trek from Mississippi, to commemorate the original Trail of Tears
1992: Plaque commemorating the Choctaws’ aid installed in Mansion House, the official residence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin, since 1715

1995: Irish President Mary Robinson visits Choctaw Nation tribal headquarters and thanks the Choctaws for their generosity toward the Irish
2017: Sculpture, “Kindred Spirits” by Alex Pentek, commemorating the Choctaw aid and continuing friendship, dedicated in Bailick Park in Midleton, County Cork, Ireland
2018: Ireland’s prime minister, or Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar visits Choctaw Nation tribal headquarters and says, “A few years ago, on a visit to Ireland, a representative of the Choctaw Nation called your support for us ‘a sacred memory’. It is that and more. It is a sacred bond