Ogham Art | Your Presence Written in the Past
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Ogham Art | Your Presence Written in the Past
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IRISH-AMERICANS IN HISTORY & POLITICS

NOTE: These collages were put together using images found on the internet. The intent and use is purely for educational and entertainment purposes.  If you own the rights to any of these photographs and would either like credit or want the photo removed from this cultural page, please email us at info@oghamart.com.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY | MARCH 8

March 8 is International Women’s Day and here we celebrate the achievements of all Irish-American women.  Just to name a few...a worldwide-acclaimed artist, a pioneering 19th century journalist, a gender-breaking pilot, and an attorney who made history.

Eileen Collins

First Female Commander of a Space Shuttle

  • Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award (2007)
  • United States Astronaut Hall of Fame (2013)
  • Irish American Hall of Fame (2016)
  • Texas Aviation Hall Of Fame (2021)

Nellie Bly

Journalist, industrialist, inventor, and charity worker

  • Paternal grandfather emmigrated from County Londonderry, Ireland, in the 1790s.

Georgia O'Keefe

Mother of American Modernism

  • Edward MacDowell Medal (1972)
  • Presidential Medal of Freedom (1977)
  • Awards National Medal of Arts (1985)

Sandra Day O'Connor

First Female Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States 

  • National Women's Hall of Fame (1995)
  • Texas Women's Hall of Fame (2008)
  • U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009)

IRISH-AMERICAN U.S. PRESIDENTS

Did you know that 23 U.S. presidents have ancestral ties to Ireland? The parents of Andrew Jackson and James Buchanan were all born in Ireland. JFK was the first president to visit Ireland while still in office. And when Ronald Reagan visited his ancestral hometown in 1984, a bar was named after him!

Andrew Jackson

7th U.S. President (1829-1837)

  • Parents emigrated from County Antrim

John F. Kennedy

35th U.S. President (1961-1963)

  • 3rd-generation American-born with roots in Counties Cork, Clare, Fermanagh, Limerick & Wexford

James Buchanan

15th U.S. President (1857-1861)

  • Father emigrated from County Donegal in 1783

Ronald Reagan

40th U.S. President (1981-1989)

3rd-generation American-born with roots in Couny Tipperary

IRISH-AMERICANS IN THE U.S. MILITARY

Medal of Honor Recipients

The Congressional Medal of Honor has been awarded to over 250 Irish-born men and over 2,000 Irish-Americans dating back to the Civil War. The Medal of Honor is the United States’ highest military award for valor.

69th New York Infantry

The 69th New York Infantry was the first regiment in the Irish Brigade, an infantry brigade comprised mostly of Irish and Irish-Americans due to the mass emigration from Ireland beginning in the 1840s. Also known as “The Fighting 69th” and “The Fighting Irish”, they are the only regiment of the Irish Brigade still active to this day.

Navy Lieutenant Commander Lisa Mattrella

LCDR Lisa Mattrella received a master’s degree from the prestigious Naval War College in Newport, RI. Since graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2010, Mattrella has been on many tours including the Middle East. Her mother’s family has roots in counties Galway and Armagh and her godfather was James Berry, the father of Ogham Art artist Colleen Berry Conway.

Colonel James B. Hickey

Colonel James B. Hickey led Operation Red Dawn, the December 13, 2003 military operation that led to the capture of Saddam Hussein in ad-Dawr, Iraq. Hickey’s parents were born in the counties of Clare and Mayo.