IRISH AMERICANS

 This is dedicated to lesser known Irish Americans.  Everyone is aware of John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie (her mother was from County Clare).  Sure Ronald Regan was Irish as was Maureen O'Hara and Bruce Springsteen has a bit of the "green" in his heritage.  Walt Disney's father was Anglo-Irish.  Bareknuckle boxing champion, John L. Sullivan's parents were both Irish immigrants.  Henry Ford's father was born in County Cork.  Both of Eugene O'Neill's parents were Irish immigrants.  Of course, you know that he won the Nobel Prize for literature and also his plays won four Pulitzer Prizes for drama.  

Now, a little more obscure but no less notable

Francis "Frank" McCourt an Irish-American author and teacher.  He won a Pulitzer Prize for his novel "Angela's Ashes".  It is a tragic memoir of his upbringing as one of five children of impoverished immigrants.  His father was from County Antrim and his mother from County Limerick.  

McCourt was given the Golden Plate Award by the American Academy of Achievement.  He was named the Irish American of the Year by Irish America magazine.  The New York City Department of Education founded the Frank McCourt School of Writing, Journalism and Literature.  The Frank McCourt Museum was opened in 2011 in Limerick, Ireland.       

THIRD OF A SERIES