Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Féin, the Irish national political party, will deliver the lecture, “Irish America and the Struggle for Freedom in Ireland,” at 8 p.m. tonight at Burt Kahn Court on Quinnipiac University’s Mount Carmel Campus. This event is free and open to the public.
Adams’ lecture is part of Quinnipiac’s celebration of the opening of Ireland's Great Hunger Museum, Museam An Ghorta Mór, home to the world's largest collection of visual art, artifacts and printed materials relating to the starvation and forced emigration that occurred throughout Ireland from 1845 to 1852. The museum, located at 3011 Whitney Avenue, near Quinnipiac’s Mount Carmel and York Hill campuses, will open Oct. 1.
Adams was elected to the Irish Parliament in 2011 when he topped the poll with more than 15,000 votes. Also as president of Sinn Féin,Adams has played a leadership role in the peace process and in bringing about the extraordinary changes that have occurred in the last two decades. He also has been central to promoting Sinn Féin's plan for economic recovery.
Adams was born in 1948 on Belfast’s Falls Road in Northern Ireland. There were republican and labor politics in his family. It was this and his early life in Ballymurphy, which shaped his Republican politics. Adamsjoined Sinn Féin and became involved in the civil rights campaign in the North in the late 1960s. He was actively involved in campaigns around housing, equality and electoral rights.
In 1983, Adams was elected to represent the constituency of West Belfast at Westminster. As a member of Parliament representing West Belfast, Adams has played a central role in all of the major social and economic campaigns and initiatives in the constituency. A fluent Irish language speaker, Adams is a Gaelic Athletic Association supporter who writes a bi-weekly blog for the Belfast Media Group. He has also published 13 books.
