A STUDENT'S GUIDE
TO THE IRISH HUNGER MEMORIAL

Welcome to the Irish Hunger Memorial. The Memorial was designed by the New York artist Brian Tolle to remember those who died or who were made homeless by the Great Irish Famine in Ireland that happened when the potato crop, the only food source for the poor, failed four times in five years (1845,1846,1848,1849). The empty potato fields remind us of those hungry years. While people died of starvation, more died of famine-related diseases that attack people who are weak and hungry.

During the Great Irish Famine, many poor people were unable to pay the rent on their little plots of land, some the size of the Memorial. 188,346 families were threatened with eviction or actually evicted by their landlords. Thousands of those homeless people, as well as other Irish who were fleeing the hungry countryside, came to New York. The roofless house reminds us of those who lost their homes. The cottage is from Ireland, the gift of Tom and Chris Slack who gave this little house ruin to their American relatives as a symbol of the bond between those who stayed in Ireland and those who came to America.

Hunger continues in our world. The Irish Hunger Memorial challenges that hunger and encourages the visitor to think about that need and and to translate that thought into action.

ACTIVITIES

Drawing on your Experience
The Memorial looks very different from one side to the other. Draw two different views of the Memorial: the view of the landscape, the view from the overlook (toward Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty or toward the World Trade Center and St. Paul's), the passage entrance, and the sides with the texts behind the glass bands.

Draw the pilgrim stone, the tall stone in the wild garden along the path to the overlook. Do you see any decoration on the stone? Draw it.

Stone Hunt
There are thirty-two stones, one from each of Ireland's counties, that are placed randomly (in nospecial order) around the Memorial. How many can you find? (See the map in the brochure.)

Growing Things
Gail Wittwer-Laird, the Irish Hunger Memorial's landscape architect, selected 62 species of Irish plants, rushes and grasses that were grown from Irish seeds. The landscape will change with the seasons are over the years. What changes can we predict might happen to the landscape? For examples, birds love to come the the Memorial on spring and summer evenings. Might they drop seeds onto the site? What kind of seeds would they bring from a previous stop in Central Park?

Some of the plants on the Irish Hunger Memorial were believed by people in the Irish countryside years ago to have special powers. Blackthorn, the plant that grows at the foot of the Pilgrim Stone, was thought to overcome evil spirits. A tall, flowering plant called Foxglove was a remedy for a weak heart. (The country people were right. We use the plant to produce heart medicine called digitalis.) Find out what other plants are used for folk remedies.

Tell us What You Saw
One of the things you will notice about the Irish Hunger Memorial is that there are no signs telling you what you are looking at.

Brian Tolle preferred to have visitors experience the Memorial: its landscape, its cottage, its texts, its audio information and its views without being directed where or how to look at the Memorial.

Based on your visit to the Irish Hunger Memorial, write your own sign telling visitors what you think they should look for during their visit.

New York Helps
One of the bands of texts that wraps around the base of the Memorial lists the names of New Yorkers, New York organizations and institutions who contributed to Central Relief Committee of the Society of Friends in Ireland. Notice the range of people and contributions. What do you notice? Create a brochure about world hunger for students at your school. If everyone just gives a little, what could we accomplish?

Great Irish Famine Monuments
One of the lessons in The Great Irish Famine Curriculum asks students to compare the famine memorials created in the last few years in Ireland, in the United States and in Australia. Compare the Irish Hunger Memorial at Battery Park City with other memorials. What do you think the artist was trying to convey in each case?

Honor Others' Hunger
Investigate another historical famine or another instance of hunger in our world and design a public monument that observes that event.

Rural Housing
According to Tom and Chris Slack, back as far as 1820, there was a house on the site in Ireland where the Slack Cottage stood. Most rural houses in the west of Ireland at the time of the Great Irish Famine were one-room cottages made of stone or mud. They had neither chimneys, nor fireplaces nor windows. How do you think a family of seven: a father, a mother, a grandparent and four children would live in that space? (See The Great Irish Famine Curriculum's lesson called Pre-Famine Housing Conditions.)

Evictions
(Click here for a printable worksheet for the activity)
During the Great Irish Famine, nearly 200,000 families were evicted from their little houses. The thatched roofs were burned and the stone or mud walls were knocked down so that the people could not return. There is a quote on the wall by Sir William Gregory that says who had to give up their little houses and their land if they wanted to get any relief. Find the quote. How much land does Gregory mention? When you find the amount, look at the grassland in the landscape. ( That is the amount!)

What does the Gregory Quote Mean?

Quotes on World Hunger
(Click here for a printable worksheet for the activity)
Along the north, south and west faces of the Irish Hunger Memorial you will see more than one hundred quotations about the Great Irish Famine and about world hunger.

List three quotes, explain the meaning of each and tell why you chose that particular quote.

Contribute to the Irish Hunger Memorial World Hunger Quote Bank
The Irish Hunger Memorial historian is creating a World Hunger Quotation Bank. Would you like to find a quote and contribute it to the Quotation Bank? Sent your quote, its source and your name to the Great Irish Famine Curriculum Website by filling out the Feedback Form found on the website. (www.emsc.nysed.gov/nysssa/gif/index.html)

Challenging World Hunger
When the President Mary McAleese of the Republic of Ireland opened the Irish Hunger Memorial with Governor George Pataki on July 16, 2002, she quoted an old Irish proverb, "We live in one another's shadow." What did she mean? How does the proverb address the challenge of world hunger?