The enduring friendship between Ireland and the Choctaw Nation: One act of generosity during the Great Famine forged a bond that transcends generations

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if you're unfamiliar with the Great Famine, it's a fascinating topic. the oversimplified version I originally learned / picked up by osmosis is that the potato crop failed, resulting in Irish people starving. the reality is much more complicated - there was plenty of food growing in Ireland, but due to colonization by Britain, Irish people were forbidden from eating it because it was earmarked for export:

Once the blight came, the families were without a primary staple for nourishment. The British government was of little help. Charles Edward Trevelyan, a top treasury official, curtailed the government’s subsidized food distribution program, even at one point rejecting a shipload of corn. Too much aid might paralyze trade, he wrote in a letter, and would leave the Irish “habitually dependent on Government.”

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The only crop that failed in Ireland during the Great Hunger was the potato. “Wheat, barley, corn, oats and grazing land for livestock were all flourishing, but these were cash crops for export, and Irish people, even as they starved to death, were forbidden to eat them,” Mullan says. Once shipments of grains and a variety of other commodities reached the Irish market towns, under the eyes of the hungry populace, they were often guarded by military escorts until they were safely shipped out of the country.