The Long March

A Tale of Two Cultures

Fitzpatrick, Marie-Louise. The Long March: The Choctaw's Gift to Irish Famine Relief. Illustrated by the author. Choctaw editing and foreword by Gary WhiteDeer. Hillsboro, Oregon: Beyond Words Publishing, Inc., 1998.

This book tells two intertwining stories. Tom, an elder member of the Choctaw nation, recalls a time in 1847, when he was a 14-year old youth and all the members of his tribe were called together to hear the latest news of their people. Among the stories told at that gathering was the story of a great famine in a far-away land called Ireland. The young Tom, who was called Choona in his youth, was perplexed. What did a famine in an unknown land have to do with the Choctaw nation? 

Then his great-grandmother rose within the meeting to retell the story of "The Long March," when the Choctaw peoples were forcibly removed from their homelands in the southeastern United States and made to march to "Indian Territory," now part of the state of Oklahoma. For many, it was a death march. Choona had been only vaguely aware of that story from his tribe's distant and misty past. His great-grandmother thought it necessary for each generation to know that story and to see its connection to the stories of other displaced persons. As she saw it, "their story is our story."

The Choctaw nation collected $170, more than $6,000 in today's currency, and sent it to an Irish famine relief agency. 

Marie-Louise Fitzgerald, the writer and illustrator of this book, traveled from her native Ireland to Oklahoma to work with Gary WhiteDeer, a Choctaw, to research the story for this book. According to information on the book's jacket, the project was supported by CAIT, Celts and American Indians Together, a bi-national organization that raises money for World Famine Relief. CAIT is headquartered at Iona College in New Rochelle New York.  

Note: I tried to research CAIT on the Internet, but was unable to find any current information. 

http://www.worldcat.org/title/long-march-the-choctaws-gift-to-irish-famine-relief/oclc/812206335&referer=brief_results

William Butler Yeats

In recognition of Bloomsday, June 16

Allison, Jonathan, ed. William Butler Yeats. Series title: Poetry for Young People. Illustrated by Glenn Harrington. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 2002. 

The Irish poet William Butler Yeats remains one of the most admired and often quoted poets of the last century. In his introduction to each poem, editor Allison recalls the mystical traditions of Ireland and also explains the historical context in which the poem was written. Illustrator Harrington's paintings help readers to envision the haunting beauty of Ireland, so deftly evoked by the poet's words. 

http://www.worldcat.org/title/poetry-for-young-people-william-butler-yeats/oclc/329858974&referer=brief_results


  

The Flag with Fifty-Six Stars

In honor of Flag Day

Rubin, Susan Goldman. The Flag with Fifty-Six Stars: A Gift from the Survivors of Mauthausen. Illustrations by Bill Farnsworth. New York: Holiday House, 2005.

Having heard, on their jury-rigged radios, of the advancing American army, and having watched their German captors flee, the prisoners in the Austrian concentration camp Mauthausen decided to welcome their liberators with an American flag made from whatever scraps of material they had at hand. Not knowing the number of stars to put on the flag, they guessed 56. When the Americans arrived, the prisoners gave the astonished commander a gift of the flag. Together, the prisoners and soldiers raised the flag over the camp. That flag now resides in the Simon Wiesenthal Museum in Los Angeles.  

http://www.worldcat.org/title/flag-with-fifty-six-stars-a-fift-from-the-survivors-of-mauthausen/oclc/962196233&referer=brief_results