This page was created by Ellen Rethwisch.
United States
The second picture is of the “Philadelphia Irish Memorial” at Penn’s landing. The artist Glenna Goodare designed it and it was completed in 2003 after being commissioned by the Irish Memorial, Inc. There are seven plaques at this location, with extensive inscriptions focused more on giving educational insight as to what caused the potato blight and the implications it had for the lives of many Irish. Once it reaches the point of the Irish being forced to immigrate, it shifts focus and describes how they were received in Philadelphia specifically, before returning to broadly discuss the Irish immigrants’ early experience in America. The final plaque is entitled “The Lessons of the Great Hunger” that neatly summarizes key points to consider as we face the future.