Weighing the Risks of Emigration from Ireland to the US during the 1840s

Exodus Presentation Notes

• Slide 1
  • This quote is from a firsthand account in the year 1846, when the Great Famine was occurring
    • Have someone read quote
    • Thought this was quote gave a very good depiction of what it was like at the time
  • The Great Famine which lasted from 1845-1850 killed more than a million Irish people
  • Black ’47 was the name given to the year of 1847 which was the worst year of the famine (O’Hara)
  • With ¾ of the Irish depending on their potato crop at this time, the Great Famine hurt them tremendously
  • The famine was most acute in the west and south of Ireland
  • Additionally, Britain was taking much of the food that was brought to Ireland from the Americas even though Ireland depended on them for relief
    • The English government preferred to stick to the political principle of “laissez-faire” and save money rather than respond to the problem directly and feed the millions of starving people
  • The anti-Irish and anti-Catholic prejudices, and their devotion to the “free-market” ultimately had devastating effects on the Irish and made The Great Famine much worse
  • At this point, many faced two options: Starve or emigrate
• Slide 2
  • A large portion of the people emigrating were poor smallholders, cottiers, and laborers
  • Many were driven from their lands when proprietors and strong farmers took advantage of the opportunity to take lands from demoralized paupers
  • Other people who emigrated were Anglicans who were less poor but saw no future in Ireland as the famine swept their country
  • Most immigrants were Irish Catholics from the southern and western region of Ireland
    • Most did not own land
    • And were persecuted against
  • Immediately after the famine, 5 million Irish emigrated
    • As we talked talked about in class the population almost doubled before then the famine caused a extreme drop
    • Most to the United States
  • In a period of ten years, 30% of Irelands population had left
  • Long term: From 1820-1920 more than 4.5 million people left
  • By the late 1800’s Irelands population decreased to 4 million (O’Hara)
  • More than 40 million Americans today have Irish ancestors
  • Statistics on the number of people leaving and present in Ireland vary from source to source, but all agree that a significant amount of the population emigrated
• Slide 3
  • Just paying for the journey was a difficult task
    • A small amount of people received money from their landlords
    • The rest had to seek help from the relatives who had emigrated to America before the famine
  • Most people who emigrated were not the poorest of Ireland but tenant farmers or urban merchants or tradesman
  • Very desperate people due to the conditions
  • Most ships did not leave from Ireland, but from Liverpool
    • Their first journey was from the Irish Sea to Liverpool
    • However, arriving to Liverpool did not guarantee you a spot on the larger ships to the US or Canada (controlled by Great Britain)
    • Many were encouraged to go to Canada by having part of their journey paid, but about half of the people who arrived there fled to the US due to the harsh weather up North and the fear of being controlled by the British again
    • They waited in crowded boarding houses where they faced problems with Liverpool residents
      • Liverpool residents developed an awful reputation of stealing from and tricking the Irish, and often seducing the women into the notorious brothels of Liverpool
    • In the period before and during the Great Famine, the ships were extremely disorganized, with too many people wanting to board too few ships
      • Ships even began leaving in the fall and wintertime, taking on harsh storms and icebergs
      • Some even sailed on merchant ships that were not meant to cross the Atlantic
    • Slide 4
      • The boats the Irish departed on became notoriously known as “The Famine Ships” and “Coffin Ships”
        • Ships were called “coffin ships” due to the horrors the passengers faced and the high mortality rates
      • They generally sailed off on large vessels where they faced awful and unbearable conditions
      • The journey generally took 5-6 weeks, but sometimes double that time
      • Passengers could only bring on board what they could carry
        • Some passengers brought whiskey with them in order to drink away the misery of the voyage
      • The ships used were not suitable for this long and treacherous journey often lacking adequate water, provisions, medical assistance, cooking/food, and cleanliness
        • They were fed biscuits and brackish water
        • Brackish water- salty water, that is unpleasant and not clean
        • Those who did not bring extra food with them arrived starved and weak
      • The captains of the ship did not care for the people in the bowels
        • Treated the passengers as cargo, not humans
      • Most tried to stay on deck for as long as possible to avoid the horrors of the bowels, however the frequent storms of the Atlantic forced them back down
        • During storms the ships rocked violently causing extreme sea sickness
      • In the bowels of the ship, the passengers were crammed together with no room to stand or walk
        • It was dark and people only had about 2 square feet
        • Only children could stand upright
        • No ventilation
      • Point to picture, show how many people were crammed onto the beds
        • The quarters were rarely if ever cleaned
        • People vomited over themselves and each other which led to extreme unsanitary conditions
        • Diseases and starvation were extremely common
          • Lice spread among the passengers
          • Typhus, dysentery, and cholera were the most common
        • Doctors refused to go into the bowels to treat the passengers
        • Someone reads the quote
        • The coffin ships showed how far people would go in order to leave Ireland for a better life
          • Really portrays how bad the conditions must have been for them to go through the horrors of this journey
        • During the “Black 47” the mortality rate was as high as 40% in the “coffin ships”
          • As many as 50,000 Irish died in route to North America
        • This sculpture is a permanent memorial to the many people who emigrated because of Ireland’s Great Famine.
          • It’s built on the departure site of the Perseverance, one of the first famine ships to leave the area in 1846.
          • The ship’s captain was a 74-year-old man who quit his office job to transport the starving people from Dublin to America.
          • All passengers arrived safely, and the Perseverance was one of the first of thousands of ships to make that epic crossing.