The Irish Consulate will host a “fireside chat” at 5:30 p.m. on Wed., Nov 14, with Dr. William H. Smith, founding executive director of the National Center for Race Amity, and the Irish author Don Mullan, of Hope Initiatives International.

The two men recently returned from Ireland where they completed a four-province screening of Smith’s documentary film “An American Story: Race Amity and the Other Tradition,” the “Other Tradition” being the experience of amity and close cross/racial collaboration to advance equity and social justice. The film focuses on the relations between pivotal figures of different races who worked together to advance equality, including the meeting in Dublin in 1845 of Frederick Douglass and Ireland’s Daniel O’Connell, the Liberator.

The event will discuss the visit of Frederick Douglass to Ireland, his encounter with Daniel O’Connell – including an inspirational speech by O’Connell which Douglass transcribed and sent back to the Abolitionist Movement in the USA, and the view that having come to Ireland as a single issue campaigner (to help end American slavery), Douglass left Ireland as an internationalist.

Smith and Mullan will be reflecting on their experiences in Ireland, their vision for a Frederick Douglass and Daniel O’Connell “Season”, and their views on the issues facing the US and Ireland in the area of race.