'The First Kennedys' explores a dynasty's humble Irish roots
16.03.2022 - 16:49
/ abcnews.go.com
BOSTON -- Think of the Kennedys and some elitist attributes come to mind: wealth, power, influence, elegance.But the great-grandparents of John F. Kennedy and Robert F.
Kennedy possessed none of those things. And the family's improbable journey from obscurity in Ireland to eventual prosperity and celebrity in the U.S.
offers hope to America’s latest arrivals from Afghanistan, Ukraine and beyond.In “The First Kennedys,” released last month by Harper Collins' Mariner Books, author Neal Thompson explores the little-known stories of Bridget Murphy Kennedy and Patrick Kennedy. Both independently fled famine in their homeland in the mid-1800s, fell in love in fiercely anti-immigrant Boston, and paved the way for the Kennedy political dynasty that followed.Just in time for St.
Patrick's Day, The Associated Press caught up with Thompson to discuss this murky chapter in the history of a family that would become known as “Camelot” — and its lessons for today's newcomers.———AP: You open the book with Bridget burying her husband outside the city because “Boston doesn't want his Irish Catholic body in its soil.” Was anti-Irish sentiment really that bad midway through the 19th century?Thompson: I was shocked to learn how deeply Boston and other parts of New England despised the incoming Irish and didn't want them as neighbors. Newspaper articles from the 1800s sometimes expressed sentiments we’ve heard in recent years: ‘Send them back.
They’re bringing their disease to America. They’re bringing their crazy religion to America.’ Racism was worse against non-white immigrants, clearly, but some of what they were up against says a lot about who we were then and who we are now as a country, and our relationship with people fleeing other
.
The website popstar.one is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can
send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.