Introduction

The Irish Hunger Memorial, designed by renowned sculptor Brian Tolle, was created in Battery Park City of Manhattan in 2002. The compact, half-acre memorial stands to raise awareness of the Great Irish Famine, when over one and a half million Irish citizen died between the years of 1845 and 1852, due to a potato blight. Ireland received limited aid from Britain, and as a result, thousands of Irish fled their homeland and immigrated to America in order to survive. The Irish fled not only to avoid starvation, but to escape widespread disease, unemployment and poor working conditions. While some fled to Australia, Canada and Britain, the vast majority came to America, and settled in the New York and Boston metropolitan areas. Like so many immigrant groups, the Irish were relentlessly discriminated against and treated poorly. Ironically, the very people who were persecuted played a significant role in building these metropolitan areas with unrelenting manual labor and a passion to contribute to their new homeland. In the decades to follow, smaller waves of immigrants continued to flee Ireland to join their families and to seek a better life.

The Irish Hunger Memorial is more than a structure of remembrance; it is a true landscape of Ireland. Individuals can literally step into the rural countryside of Ireland moments after they have stepped off of the subway.  It was a rare experience coming across this memorial, as it is nestled in between two soaring, modern buildings. Although significantly smaller in size than the skyscrapers that surround it, the memorial was impossible to miss—as it is more than a flat plot of grass, but a unique, elevated path. When you reach the top of the structure, you are twenty-five feet above the ground looking over the Hudson River.