On Saturday, 17th October, 2009 I gave a speech at the Spirit of the South Award Dinner in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. This is what I said:

Let me introduce myself in Tsalagi -Cherokee, as in this area they were once Ani Yun wiya—the Leading or Exalted People-Siyo To-hi-tsu – I am Ian Adamson—da-qu-ado. I am delighted to be here in Atlanta, Georgia, the home state of my favourite President, James Earl Carter – that most dedicated and highly principled man from Plains whose administration was one of remarkable accomplishment in pursuit of peace, justice and human rights. He is my favourite because I believe his foresight in diplomacy was an example to us as politicians in Northern Ireland and led directly to the Belfast Agreement.

But for me also he was also a man of the Frontier and like many of his predecessors in the Presidency a true son of Ulster. Set as Ulster is at the north-eastern corner of Ireland facing Britain across a narrow sea and separated from the rest of Ireland by a zone of little hills known as Drumlins, by lake, marshland and mountain, the characteristics of our language and people have been moulded by movements, large and small, between the two islands since the dawn of human history.

There was a constant coming and going between the north-east of Ireland and western Scotland from the time of the Ulster Scottish kingdom of Dalraida at the last quarter of the 5th Century when these Irish, or Scots as they were known, gave the name of Scotland to North Britain until the 17th Century immigration of a numerous Scots element brought the Scotch language or Ullans to Ireland. In a sense these Scots were returning home.

But was to be in the following century that the people of Ulster were to make another great migration and that was to be to a New World. Pressurised by southern expansion into Scotland earlier in the Christian era, they had at last returned to the lands of their ancestors. In speech and temper and outlook, the Ulster people contrasted more sharply with the natives of the other provinces of Ireland than the English Midlands with the Home Counties. In America they became known as Scotch-Irish and they created the Frontier.

Perhaps the most potent symbol of the American Frontier was Davy Crockett who was a determined opponent, political and personal of Andrew Jackson, his fellow Scotch-Irish man. It is therefore not surprising that he opposed Jackson and the issue of forced relocation of the Cherokee people from their ancestral homes in Georgia to Oklahoma through the Indian Removal Act of 1830. But like the Indians whom he was unable to save Davy Crockett became disheartened by Jackson’s continual victories and in 1836 left for Texas and martyrdom at the Alamo. There was also no greater defender of Indian rights and exposer of official corruption than Sam Houston, also of Scotch-Irish stock, whose citizenship of the Cherokee nation had been approved by their Council on 21st October 1829.

The success of the Scotch-Irish in frontier life was predicated by home life in the north of Ireland itself. There they had already been accustomed to living in rectangular houses with a wide open hearth fitted with familiar gear such as crook and crane and iron pots, flesh hooks and pot hooks, griddle and frying pans. In America they learned from the Indians. Indian corn became a prolific substitute for oats and barley and like them it was spring sown and food for people and beast alike. The Irish potato was introduced. Frontier clothing of leather and rawhide would have been no novelty to the Ulster immigrant nor would Indian music consisting of drum and flute have been unfamiliar to them. They followed the old Cherokee trails across the mountains. But they also learned from the Germans, whose log cabins, Kentucky Rifles and Conestoga wagons they made their own. Thus did they conquer the West

The Scotch-Irish were descended from the most ancient peoples of the British Isles – the Picts and Scots, known to themselves as Pretani or Cruthin. They took with them the heritage of farming and frontier life which had been learned through thousands of years at the Atlantic fringe of Europe. Their original society was matriarchal, their lineage matrilineal until conquests by indo-European groups such as the Celts and Anglo Saxons. American frontier women in particular were re-empowered by the old ideals of freedom and democracy which became the hallmarks of the American people.

Yet although the Scotch-Irish merged quickly into the American nation the Ulster speech itself was to stay alive in the hill country of Appalachia and beyond, where Scotch-Irish traditional music may still be heard. Amongst the earliest songs were ballads of their hero, King William of Orange, so that those who sung them became known as “Billy Boys of the Hill Country” or “Hillbillies”. Rooted deep in its traditions of the British Isles peasantry , the fiddle had become an instrument of major importance in the development of Irish, Scottish and Welsh jigs, reels and hornpipes. As with folk custom in general traditional music themes re-enforced the ancient culture divide between the north and west Britain and Ireland and the south and east of Britain.

Transposed to America the Ulster hoe down fiddle reached the peak of its development in the Southern States, supplemented occassionally by the plucked dulcimer borrowed from the German settlers. In the latter half of the 1800s came the fiddle banjo duet. In the early 1900s the fiddle, banjo and guitar trio was formed in the Southern Mountains. Soon other forms of popular music such as rag time and jazz had their effect on the mountain music. Different styles of fiddling developed, the most important perhaps being the Blues fiddling typified by the Mississippi Sheiks. This style, still predominant here in the South, was one of the richest contributions of the Black people to American life, not only for itself but because of its effect on such Florida fiddlers as Chubby Wise. Playing with Bill Munro, Wise formulated a new sound which was to become known as Bluegrass.

Musicologist WH Williams has written “Ireland’s initial impact upon American music came predominantly from Ulster.” Whatever their influence in terms of cabin and barn styles, field layout and town planning , it seems likely that the greatest and most lasting contribution of the Scotch-Irish was music. And however one may define the particular religious and ethnic identity, musically they should be considered Ulstermen, for they brought with them the mixture of Scottish and Irish tunes which is still characteristic of large parts of Northern Ireland. The arrival of the guitar added a new dimension to the music of the mountains. So most of all we gave you Dolly Parton and Elvis Presley.

Mouth music, however, to which the early Scotch-Irish danced their jigs and reels when no instruments were available, is still present in the Appalachians today. Back dancing, with its mixture of Scottish and Irish traditional styles, is not only still performed at competitive folk festivals but also in private homes. In fact, most of this would be perfectly recognisable to the original Scotch Irish immigrants, so that Appalachia and the Ozarks are actually more originally Ulster than modern Ulster is itself..This process is known as “colonial shift”, where settlers retain attributes which have become lost over time in the countries of origin.

There are many modern Americans who still take pride in their descent from Scotch-Irish families although they often know little of Ulster itself Not so many of these are now Presbyterians for most became Methodists , Baptists and Catholics according to conscience. This was due to old-time preachers whose traditions also lived on in the American black community to be personified by Martin Luther King. The migration of the Ulster people to the frontier was a Diaspora similar to that of the Jews.

North America was to provide ample scope for the soaring vision of men of Ulster origin. In Ulster itself meanwhile, Belfast, the only major city to support the American Revolution, became a great centre of industrialisation and on its Lagan River became a centre for the White Star Line, building one of the most famous ships of all, the Titanic, unluckily named because there was already another Belfast ship still sailing called Titanic, a cargo vessel built in 1888 by another shipbuilding yard founded in part by Richard Lewis, the grandfather of CS Lewis, who wrote the Narnia series of children’s stories. And yes, we also gave you Disneyland.

May I finish with a Sioux blessing, since I was once considered a Wisdom Keeper among them..

Lakota
Ho Tunkasila Wakan Tanka
Oyate oyasin unsiwicalapo na owicakiyapo
Nahan waci wicasi na waci winyan wwopila tanka
Nahan oyate oyasin canku luta ognamani owicakiyapo
Lecel wacin ho hecel lena, oyate kin nipi kte.
Mitakuye Oyasin

Grandfather Great Spirit
Have pity on and help all the People
Many Thanks for the Performers, male and female,
Help all the People to walk the Red Road of Peace
This I ask so that the People will prosper
You are all my relatives

In Scotch-Irish Fair Faa Ye –Bless you..In Ulster Gaelic—Go Raibh Maith Agat–Thank you very much.