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Canfield native’s history book explores immigrants’ roots HOW THE IRISH became Americans
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
Juilene Osborne-McKnight is a historian, a professor of Irish studies and a storyteller.
She uses all of those skills in her new book “The Story We Carry In Our Bones: Irish History for Americans.”
As the title implies, Americans of Irish descent are the target demographic, but the book also holds appeal to a far broader audience.
Osborne-McKnight is a Canfield native and a graduate of Youngstown State University who also taught at Canfield High for 12 years early in her career.
She is chairwoman of humanities, chairwoman of communication and director of creative writing, as well as a professor of Irish studies, at DeSales University near Quakertown, Pa., a private, Catholic school with Irish roots and traditions and a student body that reflects it.
“The Story We Carry” (Pelican Publishing Co., 272 pages with index) is her fifth book, and her first work of nonfiction; she had already published four Irish historical novels.
In a recent interview, Osborne-McKnight explained her reasons for writing her latest work.
“There are many books on Ireland that focus on a specific subject like the Potato Famine, but I had never found a book that is for Americans, one that focuses on American Irish,” she said.
Her new book, she explained, tells what Irish-Americans need to know about their roots – how they got here and what they did when they arrived.
“I wanted my students to see themselves and see their own ancestry, and say they were tough, resourceful, and survived,” she said.
“The Story We Carry” is a hybrid in its structure. Printed on heavy-stock, high-gloss paper, it is educational, but it works more like a coffee-table book and is not academic in tone. It’s a historical overview with short chapters, and is liberally peppered with sidebars, first-person stories, photos, charts and illustrations.
As such, it can be picked up at any time and opened at any place for a quick read.
Osborne-McKnight – a Canfield High School graduate who is married to Canfield native Thomas McKnight – takes her DeSales University students on a trip to Ireland every year.
“I show them every place that we’ve read about,” she said.
A lifelong teacher, Osborne-McKnight is acutely aware of how to reach students. It’s a skill set that she incorporates into “The Story We Carry.”
“Students are no longer linear learners,” she said. “Their attention span is fragmented. They learn by pictures and sidebars. I’ve learned to teach by altering what I teach every 15 minutes.”
She has a knack for storytelling – it’s readily apparent in talking to her – and uses it in her classrooms and her books to grab and hold attention.
“It’s my strongest teaching tool,” she said. “The minute you go into storytelling cadence, the room gets quiet and everyone leans forward. I use it every day in my classroom.”
Osborne-McKnight has never written a college textbook, but “The Story We Carry” – which includes illustrations by her daughter, Mara McKnight – has been adopted for instructional use at three universities, and more might add it in the future, she said.