Part 16 - Invitation to Knights of Equity Banquet, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

2 pp; printed and typescript

An invitation to a banquet organised by the Knights of Equity, an Irish Catholic fraternal organization, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on 17 March 1950. The card shows Blarney Castle, a fifteenth-century tower house, in County Cork. The festivities organised by the Knights of Equity included the singing of popular Irish songs such as ‘It’s a great day for the Irish’ and ‘When Irish eyes are smiling’.

Founded in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1895, the Knights of Equity is one of America’s oldest Irish-Catholic organizations. The Knights were first organized to protect Irish immigrants from violence that was directed towards them upon their arrival in the United States. In its earliest incarnation, the Knights operated as a quasi-secret society with somewhat arcane initiation rituals and local chapters or ‘courts’ organized in various districts (the Knights in Pittsburgh were designated ‘Court 9’). In later years, the organisation operated more akin to a benevolent and philanthropic society, distributing aid to impoverished Irish immigrants.