While this may not relate directly to our ancestors, it's a remarkable story that blew me away when I first learned of it years ago, and I think you might feel the same.

The year 1847 was an extremely difficult one for the Irish people. Known as "Black 47," this was the worst year of the famine in Ireland, where close to one million people were starving to death. On the 23rd March 1847, the call for assistance for these strangers dying of starvation was heard in Skullyville, Oklahoma by members of the Choctaw Nation. $170 was collected and duly sent to the Quakers in Ireland who were operating soup kitchens for the destitute. The amount would amount to thousands of dollars today, but its symbolism far outweighs its monetary value.

The extraordinary donation of the Choctaw people, who had very little themselves, came just 16 years after they were forced by President Andrew Jackson to leave their ancestral lands and march more than 500 miles on the punishing "Trail of Tears," in terrible winter conditions. In the neighborhood of 12,500 Choctaw were coerced into making the perilous journey from their homelands in modern-day Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana, to the whereabouts of Oklahoma today. Somewhere between 1,500 and 4,000 souls perished along the way. The young and the old, representing the future and the memory of the Choctaw nation, made up a disproportionate number of those to die.

The plight of the Irish would resonate with the Choctaw at a very deep level. The parallels of the Irish sufferings with their own were obvious. Both peoples had lost ownership of their ancestral lands. Both had lost relatives and friends to starvation and harsh weather conditions. Many from both nations would be forced to leave their native place, for them their sacred place, forever.

The unexpected generosity of the Choctaw Nation began a bond between the two people that continues to this day.

In 1990, Choctaw leaders visited County Mayo to participate in the first annual “Famine Walk,” a reenactment of a walk by desperate Irish to their landlord in 1848.

In 1992, Irish leaders visited the Choctaw Nation and walked 600 miles along the reverse route of the Choctaw Trail of Tears, and in so doing raised $1,000 for world hunger for every $1 donated by the Choctaw in 1847.

In 1995, Irish president Mary Robinson visited the Choctaw Nation headquarters to rekindle the friendship and thank the Choctaws for their generosity towards the Irish. She was named an honorary Choctaw Chief.

In 2007, members of the Choctaw donated $8,000 to the Shell to Sea campaign focused on the native Irish-speaking Gaeltacht area of County Mayo.

In 2017, a sculpture called “Kindred Spirits” was dedicated in Midleton, Cork commemorating Choctaw aid and continuing friendship. This date was specific as it reflected exactly 170 years after the $170 donation was made by the Choctaw Nation to the Irish Nation in 1847. The sculpture represents eagle wings standing together in a protective circle to remind the Irish how the Choctaw stood with the Irish and offered them much needed support in their time of greatest need.

Photo courtesy John Hurley

In 2018, Ireland’s prime minister Leo Varadkar visited the Choctaw Nation and said "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, which has joined our peoples together for all time.”

In 2019, the first Choctaw student recipient of the Choctaw Ireland Scholarship began her studies in Ireland, a program that will continue in perpetuity.

In the Spring of 2020, when the coronavirus was disproportionately impacting native peoples, it was Irish donors who were at the forefront of helping to support the Navajo and Hopi nations to deal with the ravages of Covid-19. More than $8 million was raised in the Go Fund Me campaign with donors leaving many messages summed up by this one, ‘From Ireland with Love’.

In 2024, the "Eternal Heart" sculpture was unveiled to honor the relationship between the Choctaw and Ireland nations on the Choctaw Capitol grounds in Tuskahoma, OK. The project is funded jointly by the Chahta Foundation and the Government of Ireland. The 8-foot-tall sculpture combines a Celtic trinity shape intertwined with a heart and is specifically placed facing toward Ireland. Sculptor Sam Stitt said, “There is no beginning or end to the overall piece – thus, it is eternal."

Choctaw Nation Photo

There are definitely those alive today who would not be alive without the Choctaw donation allowing their ancestors to survive the Great Hunger in Ireland. The difference between survival and death in those hungry years in Ireland often came down to the kindness of strangers. 

The monuments in County Cork and Oklahoma commemorate physically the hugely symbolic gift of kindred strangers who became kindred spirits. This was an act of solidarity by far off people who knew themselves what it meant to suffer. 

Most importantly, both Choctaw and Irish people now work together to provide assistance for people suffering from famine worldwide.

Photo courtesy John Hurley

Top photo courtesy of Anthony O'Connor/EastLight Photography