Illustrated Lecture

Meet the Neighbors:
Nineteenth-Century Irish Immigrants on Savannah’s West Side

7:00 pm • Tuesday, October 5, 2021

The United States federal census of 1860 revealed that almost one quarter of Savannah’s non-slave population was Irish-born. On the city’s west side, the districts of Yamacraw and Frogtown housed significant numbers of Irish, along with African Americans and other ethnic groups.

As the Coastal Heritage Society continues to develop the Frogtown Tenements project, it is incorporating some research from the Center for Irish Research and Teaching (CIRT), Georgia Southern University. In the lecture, “Meet the Neighbors,” CIRT’s director, Howard Keeley, PhD, shares the stories of a few Irish-born women and men whose day-by-day efforts helped shaped work and society in Savannah from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth century.

Via the Coastal Heritage Society’s Facebook page, join us at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, October 5, 2021, to learn about the likes of Rosanna McGuire, an immigrant from County Cavan in the north of Ireland. Upon her husband’s death in the Civil War, she reared her family while developing a grocery and saloon business. We believe that you’ll find these narratives a compelling mix of adversity overcome and opportunities embraced. And we hope that you’ll gain useful insights into diverse, working-class neighborhoods during a dynamic, consequential time in Savannah’s history.

Howard Keeley, PhD

Director, The Center for Irish Research and Teaching, Georgia Southern University