Boston Memorial Honors Social Activist Kip Tiernan, Founder of Rosie's Place and Various Emergency Shelter Programs
Kip Tiernan, Photo courtesy of Rosie's Place
The next time you are exploring Boston's Irish Heritage Trail, stop by the memorial to Kip Tiernan (1926-2011), social activist, writer, teacher, visionary and provocateur.
The Kip Tiernan Memorial is located in Boston's Back Bay on Dartmouth Street between Newbury and Boylston streets, next to Old South Church, and honors her relentless fight for economic and social justice, and for her special attention to helping homeless women.
She is best known for founding Rosie’s Place on Easter Sunday in 1974, the first place in America to specifically address the issues confronting homeless women. What began as a place to distribute clothing and give out coffee and comfort became a year-round emergency program, and today, Rosie’s provides health care, legal advice, job opportunities, education, daycare and affordable housing, depending on the needs of each woman who enters. Rosie’s also functions as a full time advocacy group to affect government policy and social inequities that most impact women and poor people.
Over her illustrious life, Kip also founded Boston’s Health Care for the Homeless, the Greater Boston Food Bank, and the city of Boston’s Emergency Shelter Commission.
Family History
Kip’s grandparents, James and Jane Farrell, emigrated from Ireland to the United States in 1887 and settled in Connecticut, raising eight children, including Kip’s mother Anna, who was the oldest. Annie was a telephone operator and lived at home with her mother and brothers until she married her husband James Tiernan.
Kip’s father died when she was six months old and her mom died when Kip was eleven, so her grandmother, Jane Farrell, who raised her from then on. As a teenager, Kip took flying lessons and took up jazz.
She is best known for founding Rosie’s Place on Easter Sunday in 1974, the first place in America to specifically address the issues confronting homeless women. What began as a place to distribute clothing and give out coffee and comfort became a year-round emergency program, and today, Rosie’s provides health care, legal advice, job opportunities, education, daycare and affordable housing, depending on the needs of each woman who enters. Rosie’s also functions as a full time advocacy group to affect government policy and social inequities that most impact women and poor people.
Over her illustrious life, Kip also founded Boston’s Health Care for the Homeless, the Greater Boston Food Bank, and the city of Boston’s Emergency Shelter Commission.
Family History
Kip’s grandparents, James and Jane Farrell, emigrated from Ireland to the United States in 1887 and settled in Connecticut, raising eight children, including Kip’s mother Anna, who was the oldest. Annie was a telephone operator and lived at home with her mother and brothers until she married her husband James Tiernan.
Kip’s father died when she was six months old and her mom died when Kip was eleven, so her grandmother, Jane Farrell, who raised her from then on. As a teenager, Kip took flying lessons and took up jazz.
In 1947, Kip moved to Boston to attend the Boston Conservatory, before getting into advertising and public relations, and later, acknowledging that she was an alcoholic.
In the 1960s Kip began working St. Philip's Warwick House, a Catholic parish and organizing center in Roxbury, having been influenced by the Catholic workers movement that included activists Dorothy Day and Daniel Berrigan. Writer James Carroll first met her at Warwick House when he was a young priest, and she posted the question "whose side you are on...you have to stay with the ones crucified or stand with the crucifier."
On October 6, 2018, city officials, homeless advocates and friends of Kip Tiernan unveiled a memorial in her honor on Dartmouth Street between Newbury and Boylston streets, next to Old South Church. The $150,000 memorial contains three arches, with writings by Tiernan nearby. The project was funded by the Fish Family Foundation. Watch video of the unveiling ceremony.
In the 1960s Kip began working St. Philip's Warwick House, a Catholic parish and organizing center in Roxbury, having been influenced by the Catholic workers movement that included activists Dorothy Day and Daniel Berrigan. Writer James Carroll first met her at Warwick House when he was a young priest, and she posted the question "whose side you are on...you have to stay with the ones crucified or stand with the crucifier."
Her Catholic faith was central to Tiernan's persona, wrote Carroll. "A rooted woman, Kip always wears that cross, which marks her not for piety or for a religion of easy answers, but for being, in her words, "an an-19 angry daughter of Christ."" That perspective informed her life, and was grounded in a unbridled respect for the poor people she served.
Dr. Jim O'Connell, who worked closely with Tiernan and was known as the Street Doctor for his work with Boston's homeless population, wrote that Tiernan "demanded that our program embrace social justice and not charity: ‘Never forget that charity is scraps from the table and justice is a seat at the table,'” she used to say.
Kip died on July 2, 2011 at age 85 from cancer.
Kip died on July 2, 2011 at age 85 from cancer.
Photo Courtesy of Women Wonderer Project
On October 6, 2018, city officials, homeless advocates and friends of Kip Tiernan unveiled a memorial in her honor on Dartmouth Street between Newbury and Boylston streets, next to Old South Church. The $150,000 memorial contains three arches, with writings by Tiernan nearby. The project was funded by the Fish Family Foundation. Watch video of the unveiling ceremony.
Research + Text by Michael Quinlin
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