Educators will recognize that the material will be useful in direct applications to the study of history and to the study of multiculturalism in the United States.

Tangled Roots can also become a model for integrating the separate histories of ethnic groups in America.

The material will also create opportunities for a discussion of the question of race in America.

To facilitate the use of this material, this section of the site presents material in several forms. Included for suggested use are:

• Readings: Short reviews of several sources for material and discussion and suggested grade level application.
• Lesson plans: Historical documents and sources with specific models for lesson plans.
• A discussion and response forum, E-Involvement, located under Getting Involved, which might facilitate student response to the material. In this forum, students can send us a response to the material.

Irish History

Poirteir, Cathal, ed. The Great Irish Famine. Chester Springs: Dufour, 1995.

More than any other event, the Great Potato Famine of 1845- 1851 forced the Irish to abandon their country. This series of essays about the Famine are important because they offer a great deal of historical information about the famine. The essays also discuss political and social issues that surrounded the famine.

The writers of these essays, mostly Irish and scholars all, are the modern voices of Irish thought and history.

Lots of good information in short writing form. Good for high school and college research as well as interested readers.

Irish/African American History

Dooley, Brian. Black and Green: The Fight for Civil Rights in Northern Ireland and Black America. London: Pluto Press, 1998.

An excellent source about the connections between two important Civil Rights movements. Dooley documents individual events and persons who worked together. He also presents a concise history of the period in each country. Readers will see that African American actions were a clear inspiration to Northern Irish leaders.

Dooley is an excellent and clear writer. Suitable for high school students and up.

MacDonald, Michael Patrick. All Souls. Boston: Beacon Press, 1999.

Michael Patrick MacDonald grew up in South Boston, Massachusetts in the squalor of the housing projects. MacDonald grew up believing that being Irish American was his magic against all troubles. He lived in poverty, crime and his family survived by welfare benefits. Oddly, he thought he had nothing in common with Black kids from the neighboring housing projects. In fact, he thought they were his enemies.

This autobiography is honest in its story of Irish racism and poverty. What gives the book its strength is MacDonald's telling how he learned that the legends of Southie and the magic charms of being Irish American were not true. He shows the reader how he looks around and sees that the Black kids and mothers in Boston's housing projects were his equals and sometimes even his allies.

MacDonald had become a leader in the anti violence movements in Boston. This gritty, insightful narrative will be of interest to readers from high school age and up.