On September 1, 2012 the Ancient Order of Hibernians in America rededicated the Tollgate Cemetery in Jamaica Plain to honor the brave Irishmen who fought and died during our Civil War. The Ancient Order of Hibernians in America has been involved in cleaning up the grounds of the Tollgate Cemetery all summer with the assistance of local Boy Scouts. The Tollgate Cemetery holds the remains of many Irish men who escaped the starvation in their homeland, traveled across the ocean in coffin ships to face discrimination here in Boston. During the Civil War if you were drafted you could pay some one to take your place and many wealthy Bostonians did just that, this gave the Irish a means to provide for their families and the hope of citizenship if they survived.

The AOH State Boards of New York and New Jersey have taken on the position of sponsoring the Project Crossmaglen presentation, taking place in New York in May.

The local Italian community has teamed up with the Irish in New Jersey in a battle to keep 19th century illustrator Thomas Nast out of the New Jersey Hall of Fame. The illustrator’s cartoons are considered racist, showing Irish Catholics to be drunken miscreants who look like apes.
 
New Jersey’s Ancient Order of the Hibernians, the Catholic League, the Irish Anti-Defamation League, and state legislators from both political parties have raised objections to the idea that Nast, who seemed to be virulently anti-Irish and anti-Catholic be afforded this honor.
 
An Italian American organization, One Voice Coalitions, is stepping in to help block Nast. This group is the largest Italian American group who speak “out with one voice against negative stereotyping”.
 
They are joining the Irish community in asking the New Jersey Hall of Fame, Executive Director Don Smith, to take Nast’s name from this year’s list of nominees due to his prejudice towards Italians, Irish Catholics, and other ethnicities. Nast’s cartoons show Italians as criminals and malcontents.
 
In a statement, Andre DiMino, the group’s president said, “We should not be glorifying such a clearly bigoted and prejudiced person in a list of prominent New Jerseyans”
 
“This is supposed to be a list of New Jersey people who are ‘role models of excellence,’ not those that spewed hate speech.”
 
The group leader said they were in joining in the AOH’s fight to have Nast excluded from the Hall of Fame.
 
He continued “We support our brother and sisters in the Irish American community and their campaign against Nash’s inclusion. While the cartoonist depicted negative cartoons about Italians, Nast was especially blatant in his hostility and bigotry towards Irish Catholics.”
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READ MORE ]]> http://www.irishcentral.com/news/ILIR-and-AOH-meet-Lindsey-Graham-in-push-for-immigration-reform-66907717.html http://www.irishcentral.com/news/ILIR-and-AOH-meet-Lindsey-Graham-in-push-for-immigration-reform-66907717.html Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:33:00 PDT
By: INTELLIGENCER

THE promise of immigration reform benefiting the undocumented Irish in America took a quiet but very important step forward in Washington, D.C. last week with a pivotal meeting between Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Ciaran Staunton, president of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR) and South Carolina Ancient Order of Hibernians board member Jim Lawracy.

“Children of the Gael died in the thousands on this island having fled from the laws of the foreign tyrants and an artificial famine in the years 1847-48. God's loyal blessing upon them. Let this monument be a token to their name and honour from the Gaels of America. God Save Ireland.” - Inscription on Celtic Cross, Grosse Île, Canada

A leading member of the AOH has blasted calls from Northern Ireland to jail former IRA man and Maze escapee Pol Brennan.

In August of this year, Grosse Ile, Canada’s Ellis Island, will celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the unveiling of one of the largest Celtic crosses in the world to commemorate the thousands of Irish immigrants whose final resting place was the Canadian island.

THE Ancient Order of Hibernians, one of the oldest and largest Irish organizations in the U.S., announced last week that they would primarily focus on pro-life issues for the future, now that the Northern Irish issue has been essentially resolved. READ MORE ]]> http://www.irishcentral.com/news/AOH-Prez-Vows-Immigration-Support-1045.html http://www.irishcentral.com/news/AOH-Prez-Vows-Immigration-Support-1045.html Sun, 08 Mar 2009 09:44:47 PDT By: April Drew

AT the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) biannual convention in New Orleans last weekend, Pennsylvania man and active national vice president Seamus Boyle was elected the Irish-Catholic fraternal organizations 35th national president by a resounding three to one majority.Boyle, 66 replaced Massachusetts native Jack Meehan, who served just two years - one term - as president. Two terms in office is the norm for the position. Speaking to the Irish Voice from his home in Philadelphia on Tuesday morning, Boyle said it was the ultimate honor to be voted in as national president of the Hibernians, an organization he has belonged to since 1972. "Following in the footsteps of some of the past presidents and to be held in the same esteem as they have been is definitely an honor," said Boyle, a retired carpenter. Ned McGinley, two-term predecessor to Meehan, formally presented Boyle to the convention as Meehan's challenger to over 2,000 Hibernian men and women, 900 of whom were eligible to vote, at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel on Canal Street. This was the third AOH convention in New Orleans in 116 years. The first was in 1882 and again a century later the Hibernians convened in the Big Easy in 1992. Joining Boyle at the convention was his Co. Armagh-born wife Bernadette, his son Michael and his two daughters, Tara and Bronagh. Boyle, who visits Ireland about two or three times a year, said he ran for president of the largest Irish organization in the U.S. because, he said, "I thought the organization needed a change in leadership." Boyle served as an officer in his local AOH Division 39 for 30 years, before being elected as an officer onto the Philadelphia county board. From there he moved quickly up through the ranks, serving as both vice president and president on the state board. He also served as an elected officer on the National Board for 10 years before becoming vice president in 2006. Boyle, who was born in Co. Armagh and spent years living in Louth before coming to the U.S. with his family in 1954, said his first and foremost priority as president of the AOH is to deal with the pressing issue of immigration affecting thousands of Irish living in the U.S. "Immigration is one of my main priorities right now," he said. "We will be trying to work with the different organizations in getting the Irish immigrants here legalized," he added, admitting it's an issue that he is very close to and would like to see a resolution sooner rather than later. Vice Chairman of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR), Ciaran Staunton spoke at the convention about the estimated 50,000 undocumented Irish living in the U.S. and asked the Hibernians to make it their top priority in the coming year to help ILIR and other immigration groups that lobby on behalf of the undocumented in finding a resolution to the problem. AOH National Chairman of Immigration Michael Glass and members of the Immigration Committee, Pete Coyle and Matt Reilly, both of New York, submitted a motion in support of ILIR before the Resolution Committee on Thursday and it was passed. It is now a requirement of the officers and members of the Hibernians that "all state and county boards, all Hibernian divisions around the United States, and all Hibernian members will actively support and redouble our efforts to support the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR) in its quest for fair and equitable reform of the immigration laws of the United States." Keeping in alignment with the AOH's mission, Boyle, whose mother's family in Ireland was very involved with the Hibernians, said he would ensure that the AOH's charitable drive would carry on to feed the hungry and the veterans. On the religious end, Boyle said the organization would continue to fund seminarians going to school through the organization's St. Patrick's project. "It costs a lot of money, and even if they do get a scholarship they still have a lot of expenses for gas or insurance on their car and stuff like that," he said. "We usually try to give them at least $20,000 or $30,000 every year to seminarians according to how much we raise." Boyle is also an active supporter of the Northern Ireland peace process, and told the Irish Voice he would love to see an end to conflict. "Although we have peace in Ireland right now in the North we also still have an awful lot of issues that need to be cleaned up," he added. "Going back as far as the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, we need to find out who was involved and what exactly happened. The British have to give us some answers." Speaking about the convention weekend, Boyle said a lot of important business was put to bed. "The host committee made up of Jimmy McKay and Terry Kelleher did a tremendous job," he said."I was at a lot of conventions with the AOH and the Carpenters Union, but I've never been to any convention anywhere that has ever come close to that. Some of the events were just fantastic." He described the final night of the convention as a "scene from a movie." The newly elected officers were led into and around the ballroom of the fifth floor of the Shearton by a parade of sheriffs on motorcycles with blaring sirens, followed by a band. "It was just something so amazing," recalled Boyle.