Irish Immigration

1. Irish Immigration

2. Old Immigrant groups • These groups came to America before the Civil War • They were of three groups • British • Germans • Irish

3. Sign in New York and Boston in 1850 • NINA • No • Irish • Need • Apply

4. Irish in America • The largest of the old immigrant group were the Irish • The reasons for the Irish in America • Better economic opportunities • Ability to practice their religion, Catholicism • First large Catholic group to come to America • Escape the plight of the Potato Famine of 1846 • The potato was the staple crop of the Irish • A fungus killed the potato in Ireland • Millions died from starvation

5. Irish Potato Famine • The Potato Famine in Ireland (1847)By 1847, the potato famine had reached full strength and much of the population of Ireland was malnourished and weak. • "Famine fever"--cholera, dysentery, scurvy, typhus, and infestations of lice--soon spread through the Irish countryside. • Observers reported seeing children crying with pain and looking "like skeletons, their features sharpened with hunger and their limbs wasted, so that there was little left but bones." • Masses of bodies were buried without coffins, a few inches below the soil.

6. The Famine • Over the next ten years, more than 750,000 Irish died and another 2 million left their homeland for Great Britain, Canada, and the United States. Within five years, the Irish population was reduced by a quarter.

7. Famine • The Irish potato famine was not simply a natural disaster. It was a product of social causes. • Under British rule, Irish Catholics were prohibited from entering the professions or even purchasing land. • Instead, many rented small plots of land from absentee British Protestant landlords. • Half of all landholdings were less than 5 acres in 1845.

8. Irish peasants subsisted on a diet consisting largely of potatoes, since a farmer could grow triple the amount of potatoes as grain on the same plot of land. • A single acre of potatoes could support a family for a year. • About half of Ireland's population depended on potatoes for subsistence.

9. Irish Emigration

10. Coming to America • Though life in Ireland was cruel, emigrating to America was not a joyful event...it was referred to as the American Wake for these people knew they would never see Ireland again. • Those who pursued this path did so only because they new their future in Ireland would only be more poverty, disease, and English oppression. America became their dream. • Early immigrant letters described it as a land of abundance and urged others to follow them through the "Golden Door." • These letters were read at social events encouraging the young to join them in this wonderful new country. • They left in droves on ships that were so crowded, with conditions so terrible, that they were referred to as Coffin Ships.

11. Coffin Ships • During the Famine period, an estimated half-million Irish were evicted from their cottages. Unscrupulous landlords used two methods to remove their penniless tenants. • The first involved applying for a legal judgment against the male head of a family owing back-rent. After the local barrister pronounced judgment, the man would be thrown in jail and his wife and children dumped out on the streets. • A 'notice to appear' was usually enough to cause most pauper families to flee and they were handed out by the hundreds. • The second method was for the landlord to simply pay to send pauper families overseas to British North America. Landlords would first make phony promises of money, food and clothing, then pack the half-naked people in overcrowded British sailing ships, poorly built and often unseaworthy, that became known as coffin ships.

12. Irish in America 2 • Irish earned a living through hard labor • Building canals and roads • Did many of the jobs that other Americans would not perform • They were the first to build railroads • They helped build the Union Pacific Railroad in the 1860s • They also worked in the coal mines

13. Irish American Settlements The Irish immigrants primarily settled in three big United States cities • Chicago • Boston • New York

14. Irish Legends • Patrick made the snakes leave Ireland. • Leprechauns are little, magic people that grant wishes. • There is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow

15. Croagh Padric

16. History of the Holiday • St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17, his religious feast day and the anniversary of his death in the fifth century. • The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for thousands of years. • On St. Patrick's Day, which falls during the Christian season of Lent, Irish families would traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. • Lenten prohibitions against the consumption of meat were waived and people would dance, drink, and feast—on the traditional meal of Irish bacon and cabbage. The first St. Patrick's Day parade took place not in Ireland, but in the United States. Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City on March 17, 1762. Along with their music, the parade helped the soldiers to reconnect with their Irish roots, as well as fellow Irishmen serving in the English army.

17. St. Patrick’s Day parade Along with their music, the parade helped the soldiers reconnect with their Irish roots, as well as with fellow Irishmen serving in the English army. • It has just been recently that it was a celebration day in Ireland • Today, St. Patrick's Day is celebrated by people of all backgrounds in the United States, Canada, and Australia. • Although North America is home to the largest productions, St. Patrick's Day has been celebrated in other locations far from Ireland, including Japan, Singapore, and Russia.

18. Parade around the world Chicago NY Japan Boston

19. Parade around the world2 Singapore Russia London Belfast

20. More St. Patrick’s pictures Greece Beijing Morocco South Africa

21. The Leprechaun • The original Irish name for these figures of folklore is "lobaircin," meaning "small-bodied fellow.“ • Belief in leprechauns probably stems from Celtic belief in fairies, tiny men and women who could use their magical powers to serve good or evil. • In Celtic folktales, leprechauns were cranky souls, responsible for mending the shoes of the other fairies. • Though only minor figures in Celtic folklore, leprechauns were known for their trickery, which they often used to protect their much-fabled treasure.

22. Leprechaun • Leprechauns had nothing to do with St. Patrick or the celebration of St. Patrick's Day, a Catholic holy day. • In 1959, Walt Disney released a film called Darby O'Gill & the Little People, which introduced America to a very different sort of leprechaun than the cantankerous little man of Irish folklore. • This cheerful, friendly leprechaun is a purely American invention, but has quickly evolved into an easily recognizable symbol of both St. Patrick's Day and Ireland in general.

23. The Shamrock • In fact the first written mention of this story did not appear until nearly a thousand years after Patrick's death. • The shamrock, which was also called the "seamroy" by the Celts, was a sacred plant in ancient Ireland because it symbolized the rebirth of spring. • By the seventeenth century, the shamrock had become a symbol of emerging Irish nationalism. • As the English began to seize Irish land and make laws against the use of the Irish language and the practice of Catholicism, many Irish began to wear the shamrock as a symbol of their pride in their heritage and their displeasure with English rule.

24. Converted Many Irish to Christianity St. Patrick used the Shamrock as an example of the Trinity. Father Jesus (Son) Holy Spirit One God