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Transatlantic: An Irish American History Podcast

Transatlantic: An Irish American History Podcast

Written by: Fin Dwyer & Damian Shiels
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3,000 miles of ocean separate Ireland from the USA, but both countries share a deep and intertwined history. Links between North America and Ireland predate Columbus, stretching back over 1,000 years. Since then, Irish people have shaped the history of the United States. From Ann 'Goody' Glover, who was hanged as a witch in Boston in the 17th century, to JFK, the story of the Irish in the US is fascinating. Join historians Damian Sheils and Fin Dwyer as they join forces to explore the good, the bad, and the ugly of Irish American history.


In Season 1 Fin and Damian explore fascinating topics including

  • Who was the first Irish person to cross the Atlantic?
  • The Story of Goody Glover who was hanged as a witch in Boston.
  • What was it like to emigrate during the Great Famine of the 1840s?
  • How Irish people shaped the US Civil War?


And much more...


Subscribe and join Fin and Damian on this fascinating journey through our history.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fin Dwyer & Damian Shiels
Social Sciences World
Episodes
  • 47. Stephen Moylan: The Irish General in the American Revolution
    Jun 21 2026

    It is little known that the term United States of America may have been coined by the Irishman, Stephen Moylan. Although a little klnown figure in Ireland, he played a key role in the American revolution. His life story is remarkable. Born into a Catholic family in Cork his experiences in Ireland would form his transformational impact he on US history.


    In this episode, Fin & Damian speak with historian Victoria Pearson a PhD researcher in Ulster University. The Moylan family is her particular area of expertise and she explains Stephen Moylan’s remarkable journey, his formative early life in Cork and his place in the revolutionary generation of 1776.

    Dr Pearson’s article, Am I My Brother’s Keeper: The Moylan Family and the American Revolution, will feature in a special edition of History Ireland, out in July/August to mark America 250.


    Victoria also appears in the upcoming TG4 documentary, The Lost Irish Heroes of the American Revolution, presented by Cormac Ó hEadhra. It will be broadcast in Ireland on 4 July and will also have an international release.


    You can also listen back to this previous transatlantic episode, where Damian and Fin discuss Irish involvement in the American Revolution more broadly: https://shows.acast.com/transatlantic/episodes/who-did-the-irish-support-in-the-

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    1 hr and 4 mins
  • 46. Outsiders: Irish American Radical Women
    May 17 2026

    The individual experiences of ordinary Irish emigrant women in the late 19th and early 20th century can be difficult to reach, with many spending years working long hours in domestic service or on factory floors. But there is a group of these women who left a greater mark in the written record and--sometimes--even left behind their own words. They were the "radical" activists--Irish American women who took the decision to raise their heads above the parapet in an overwhelmingly patriarchal world to fight for the causes they believed in.


    In this episode, Fin and Damian are joned by Dr Tara McCarthy, the expert on Irish American women's activism during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. Tara takes us through the background of these women, explains their origins, and highlights the incredible stories of a number of these remarkable individuals. Along the way she charts the importance of the Irish nationalist struggle for the growth in activism, discusses efforts to improve the lot of women in the workplace, and shares the strategems employed to progress the cause of female suffrage. All in all, this is a must-listen show if you want to discover more about the major contribution Irish American women made to activism in the United States during this critical period.


    Book: Tara M McCarthy, Respectability & Reform: Irish American Women’s Activism, 1880-1920 Syracuse University Press


    Dictionary of Irish Biography: Fanny Isabel Parnell


    New York Irish History Roundtable Profile of Marguerite Moore


    New York Historical Society Profile of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn


    Transatlantic Podcast. Episode 8. Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America?


    National Park Service Profile of Leonora O’Reilly


    Freedomsway.org Profile of Mary Kenney O’Sullivan


    Dictionary of Irish Biography: Hanna Sheehy Skeffington


    National Park Service Profile of Maud Malone


    National Park Service Profile of Margaret Foley


    Gilder Lehrman Institute Profile of Mary Elizabeth Lease

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    47 mins
  • 45. An Ulster Scot on the American Frontier: The Extraordinary Life of George Galphin
    Apr 19 2026

    George Galphin was a married man in his late 20s when he left Armagh for a new life on the American Frontier in 1737. Across the four decades that followed Galphin built an extraordinary personal empire on the frontiers of colonial South Carolina and Georgia. At the heart of his success were his connections with the indigenous Muscogee (Creek) people, amongst whom he lived. In this episode, Fin and Damian are joined by Dr Bryan C. Rindfleisch--an expert on Galphin's life--to discuss this fascinating Ulster Scot emigrant, the people that surrounded him, and the world he inhabited.


    Bryan outlines for us what life was like on the frontiers of Empire in the 18th century American south-east, and how Galphin found success as the key-go between in the lucrative deerskin trade with Native American peoples. He traces Galphin's Irish origins and how his transatlantic ties influenced him, not least through his efforts to support increased Ulster emigration to the Frontier. We also delve into some of the intimate relationships that were central to Galphin's life, particularly with women such as Metawney, the powerful Muscogee woman who made his career possible, and the enslaved women he held in bondage and with whom he fathered children.



    Book: Bryan C. Rindfleisch George Galphin's Intimate Empire: The Creek Indians, Family and Colonialism in Early America


    Discover Ulster Scots: The Scotch Irish of Savannah


    Website of The Muscogee Nation


    National Park Service History of The Muscogee Nation


    Silver Bluff Audubon Center and Sanctuary


    Initial Archaeological Investigations at Silver Bluff Plantation

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    59 mins
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