Marking race relations in the home of the Liberator
LAST month saw Derrynane House welcome international guest Dr William H ‘Smitty’ Smith as he premiered his new documentary, ‘An American Story: Race Amity and the Other Tradition’.
Dr Smith is the Founding Director of the National Center for Race Amity in Boston MA; joining him on the day was Don Mullnan, who is the Director of Hope Initiatives International.
A powerful element of the documentary is its focus on Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave and the powerful influence that Daniel O’Connell had in shaping his leadership of the campaign for Catholic emancipation.
In advance of the screening, Dr Smith planted an Atlas Cedar in the gardens of Derrynane House, O’Connell’s ancestral home.
This was to mark both the bi-centenary of the birth of Frederick Douglass and Ireland’s support for the Great Green Wall of Africa project.
The screening was attended by representatives of the local community, Coiste Pobail, the Daniel O’Connell Summer School committee, Failte Ireland, the OPW, and the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
The documentary was introduced by former Diaspora Minister Jimmy Deenihan, who also features in the film, and was followed by an engaging question and answer session.