Thanks to Choctaw Nation

This plaque is in the famine graveyard in Donegal Town, Donegal, Ireland. It commemorates the gift of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma during the great famine of 1847. Unfortunately, the following link has stopped working. http://www.choctawnation.com/history/choctaw-nation-history/choctaws-helped-starving-irish-in-1847-this-act-shaped-tribal-culture/ But, there is an archived version of it at https://web.archive.org/web/20150707014555/http://www.choctawnation.com/history/choctaw-nation-history/choctaws-helped-starving-irish-in-1847-this-act-shaped-tribal-culture/ and there is some information at: https://www.choctawnation.com/about/history/irish-connection/

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.