GREEN ROOTS: The San Francisco Irish - An Oral History

The Crossroads Irish-American Festival is creating an oral and video archive about the history of the Irish and Irish-American communities in the San Francisco Bay Area.

We invite you to contact us with your suggestions of persons to interview. Please click here to contact us today.

Goal: To capture the stories and family histories of the Irish and Irish-American communities of the San Francisco Bay Area.

We will build upon the audio and video archive that already exists as a result of the Crossroads Irish-American Festivals of 2005-2008 during which we convened nights of storytelling in various neighborhoods throughout San Francisco with the goal of revealing the hidden histories of the Irish and Irish-American experience of immigration, settlement, community, and the raising and educating of children, socializing, worship, work, sport, culture, and the myriad ways that the Irish contributed to the wealth, character, diversity, politics, and the rich and vibrant living culture of the city of San Francisco.

Focus: This project is dedicated, in part, to capturing the stories, memories, family histories, and experiences of the men, women, girls, and boys who immigrated to the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1950's and the 1980's from Ireland. We are also dedicated to capturing the stories of numerous surviving family members of Irish-Americans who have lived here for generations and are related to key figures in the popularizing of unique and colorful Irish-American vernacular and culture. Some of these artists include the world-famous cartoonist "Tad" Dorgan as well as colorful journalists, writers, and folklorists like Peter Tamony, "Scoop" Gleeson, "Spike" Slattery, Ralph Gleason, and scores of local Irish-American writers, musicians, dancers, storytellers, and poets.

Why: Mapping the family histories of people who gave spirit, soul, voice, and vibrancy to Irish life in the 1950s and the 1980s in San Francisco is a compelling means of understanding the evolution of the Irish-American community in the Bay Area. These stories and histories are important to the community because they make up a priceless and irreplaceable body of lived experience that has not yet been the subject of historical or documentary attention by other cultural organizations.

It is time for us to honor and to record the sacred roots and soul of our Irish-American community's long history in San Francisco. Now is the time to do this work, before it is too late, given the ages of those who hold this invaluable and precious knowledge of our people and their histories, struggles, and triumphs.

Join Us: The public is sincerely invited to participate in this project by submitting names of individuals whom they believe would make an important contribution to this oral archive.

Please contact us by email or phone (415) 571-8948