Join the Rhode Island Historical Society on Wednesday, March 11th at 5:30pm for the presentation Embracing Hope: The Famine Irish Experience in Providence, Rhode Island, by researcher Ray McKenna, based on his forthcoming book of the same name.
McKenna will share the story of the Irish farmers and laborers who, in the wake of the Great Hunger, made their home in the Ocean State. Focusing on the humble folks, the day laborers, the domestic servants, the unwed mothers, and the abandoned children, whose lives reflect the damage and heartbreak that hunger and disease brought to these otherwise optimistic people. Among those highlighted, McKenna will tell his own family’s story, who illustrate the common experience of Irish immigration and life in neighborhoods such as Federal Hill.
McKenna, a sixth-generation Rhode Islander, descends from Irish Famine immigrants who arrived in Providence in the 1840s. With degrees from the University of Rhode Island and the University of Connecticut, he taught European, Russian, and American history at Longmeadow High School in Massachusetts before pursuing a career in the wine trade. Eventually, he returned to his first love, history, focusing on his Celtic ancestors and their community. His book, Embracing Hope: The Famine Irish Experience in Providence, Rhode Island, will be released in March 2026.
Tickets are pay as you wish. Registration is required. Guests can register here.