New Exhibition on Andrew Jackson to mark...

13 June 2019

As part of this week’s Belfast in Nashville programme, the Ulster-Scots Agency has launched a new touring exhibition on the life of Andrew Jackson, the first Scotch-Irish President of the USA and Nashville’s most famous son. The launch took place at the Discover Ulster-Scots Centre in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter and drew a wide audience, which included members of the Nashville Sister Cities delegation, who are in the city for the week’s festivities.

Launching the new exhibition, Ulster-Scots Agency Chief Executive Ian Crozier said, “It is important for everyone in Northern Ireland to understand the relationship that we have with Nashville and with the USA more widely.  The Ulster-Scots people in Northern Ireland and the Scotch-Irish people in the USA are kith and kin.  Many of the most significant events in the history of the USA have been driven by people, including Andrew Jackson, whose roots are here in Ulster: and their outlook on life was shaped by our shared heritage as a people and the journey from Scotland to Ulster and then on to America.  It is a relationship that all of us should be proud of and it is a relationship that can and should be the foundation for positive social, economic and cultural developments on both sides of the Atlantic.”

Andrew Jackson’s family left Boneybefore, outside Carrickfergus, around 1765 and the future President was born around two years later.  As a man, he married Rachel Donelson, whose father John was a co-founder of Nashville.  He had emigrated from Carnmoney, between Belfast and Carrickfergus.

Nashville in Belfast is a five day festival of events run by Belfast City Council from Wednesday 12 June to Sunday 16 June 2019 to celebrate the strong links between Belfast, capital city of Northern Ireland and Nashville, state capital of Tennessee.

The new exhibition, “Andrew Jackson – The First People’s President,” will be on display at the Discover Ulster-Scots Centre for the next month before going on tour.

To view photos from the lauch, click here.

To find out more about the FREE touring Exhibition, email info@ulsterscotsagency.org.uk or call 028 9023 1113. The exhibition can also be viewed online by clicking here.