Finding Gold at the End of the Rainbow:
Irish Immigration to America during the Potato Famine in 1845
History 111
November 15, 2010
During the Potato Famine in 1845, the Irish immigrated into the United States with the anticipation of finding a better life. The Irish immigrants, trying to escape the hardships the famine brought, only faced more obstacles to overcome once arriving in America. The Irish-Americans were forced into a hard lifestyle with backbreaking jobs while being hated by other Americans for their religion. However, because of the one and a half million emigrants from Ireland to the United States by 1861, the United States has grown to become a more diverse and accepting country.
According to Daniel Webster Hollis's book, The History of Ireland, the potato famine has caused one-million deaths in Ireland by 1861. The potato crop in Ireland suffered a fungal disease which was imported from Peru to Europe.
English: Andrew Jackson - 7 th President of the Un...
United States
United StatesAs the crop became infected, the seed available for the next harvest also reduced. In Ireland, one-third of the population relied entirely on the potato crop, resulting in a small percentage of skilled workers. The potato was favored in Ireland because of the acidic soil and damp temperate climate which prevailed over the land. The result to this devastating catastrophe was immigration to America. 1
The immigrants traveling to America were forced to travel in ships known as "coffin ships" because of the terrible conditions that existed. People were crammed and barely given enough food to survive. Sanitation was limited, and disease spread like wildfire. The two major ports in America for these ships of immigrants were New York and New Orleans. Arriving "in New York was a staggering average of 300 immigrants disembarking daily, every day for six
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1 Daniel Webster Hollis III, The History of Ireland (Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2001), XVI-102
years: some days more than 1,000 would arrive on a single cite." By 1850, New York had more Irish-born citizens than Dublin. These numbers show how many Irish were flooding into America because of the Famine. As soon as these naïve Irish immigrants stepped foot on the U.S. soil, they were pickpocketed and scammed along the docksides by many American tricksters. 2 This was yet only the beginning of the hardships the Irish would face in becoming an Irish-American.
Before the Potato famine, Irish immigration to America consisted of more skilled workers then Post-famine immigrants. However, Post-famine immigrants would take any job they could maintain. The Irish immigrants, "like other immigrants since, did most of the city's rude and heavy work". 3 Many Irish were desperate for any work they could find settling for jobs at the bottom of the American economy. The Irish women worked as millworkers, servants, and also cooked for American families. The men worked as unskilled factory laborers, miners, lumbermen, construction workers, ditch-diggers, and builders of the new roads, canals, and railroads. "Thousands died early from overwork, industrial accidents, and disease." 4 By this number, one can understand how hard life was as a working Irish-American. Not only were the Irish willing to do this backbreaking work but they did it for very low wages!
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2 Edward Laxton, The Famine Ships: The Irish Exodus to America (New York: Henr
Holt and Company, 1997), 25-168
3Cormac àGráda, Black '47 and Beyond: The Great Irish Famine in History, Economy and Memory (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1999) 18-12
4 Kerby Miller and Paul Wagner, Out of Ireland: The Story of Irish Emigration to America (Washington, D.C.: Elliot and Clark Publishing, 1994) 39-125
Those immigrants who came into the port in New Orleans, had to compete with slaves and free African Americans for work as servants. Irish Immigrants also were forced to work in swamps that were infested with malaria, in which many died. 5The Irish failed miserably at farming because they were not use to the hard work it took to farm American soil. The potato is a fairly easy crop to farm, which is why the Irish were not cut out to farm once arriving in America. Irish immigrants faced discrimination in finding jobs as well. Many employers would hang signs with the words, "No Irish Need Apply" (NINA). The Americans who were already settled also feared the Irish because of the cheap labor the Irish immigrants would provide. 2 This is a similar problem that can be seen in present day American culture as well. The working habits might have changed in the Irish's lifestyle when arriving to the boarder, however not every aspect changed in the Irish culture. The family has always been a huge importance in the Irish culture and remained to stay that way even after moving west.
The presence of strong family ties among the Irish Immigrants was seen in very high numbers according to the New York City census of 1855. According to this census, two-thirds of Irish teenagers lived with their parents at home, compared to the one-third of German and native-born teenagers. The dominance of the nuclear family households was also very predominant within Irish immigrant homes. This shows how important family was to the Irish. It was also
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5 Lawrence J. McCafrfrey, Textures of Irish America (New York: Syracuse University Press, 1992), 15 -166
2 Edward Laxton, The Famine Ships: The Irish Exodus to America (New York: Henr
Holt and Company, 1997), 25-168
very important to marry into another Irish family. Most marriages usually occurred with couples who were from the same or neighboring counties from Ireland. Two-thirds of Irishmen have married women from the counties they were born in. Men and women who married in their early twenties were a bit less likely to marry out of the Irish nationality. Since life was so hard in the west, communities were usually formed around families and friends for a sense of comfort. This led to the one out of every four marriages where grooms and brides-to-be gave the church clerk the same address. This happened for either of two reasons. One, the Irish immigrants were so poor they had to live together or two, the tendency to live near immigrants who are from their home county.3 Young women in Ireland were always forced into arranged marriages. These girls could never marry anyone of their own choice. Because of this, America was very appealing because they can finally have social and economic freedom. The Irish immigrants lived together in dense communities, but where did they live?
Where the Irish immigrants lived depended on which type of immigrant they were. The first streams of immigrants were those who were from better-off counties in Ireland. These immigrants were predominantly from the middle class of the Irish society. These immigrants usually came here because they saw no future for themselves in Ireland. They usually came with enough money to move from the big cities, they entered America in, more westward. However, the second streams of immigrants usually were all Catholic, with no money. These immigrants usually left Ireland because of their extreme poverty in which made them most vulnerable to
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3 Cormac àGráda, Black '47 and Beyond: The Great Irish Famine in History, Economy and Memory (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1999) 18-120
starvation and disease. 6These immigrants were too poor to move away from the big cities and were forced to live "in a shack in a decaying slum on the waterfront or the edge of town called 'Paddy town' or 'Little Dublin'". 3 Since these communities were so dense and surrounded with Irish immigrants, one might think that their culture, in terms of food and language, must have been kept and passed down through the generations. However, for the Irish this is not the case.
Usually, every culture has its own foods and language that strengthen its individuality. However, when it comes to the Irish, it is hard to think of any dishes besides the cliché soda bread and corn beef and cabbage. Yet, this is not because of the lack of knowledge people have of the Irish people rather the lack of cultural food the Irish have to offer. Foods eaten by the Irish are common foods that are eaten in many cultures such as: ham, potatoes, cabbage, stew, etc. 4 As far as language goes, many people in Ireland did not speak Gaelic. However, many Irish people did have very thick brogues, or accents. Because of these two factors it was quite easy for the Irish immigrants to assimilate into the American culture. The Irish usually cooked American dishes they learned when cooking and serving for American families. The Irish immigrants did bring over their excellent beer and whiskey. The Irish culture consisting of great alcohol could have contributed to the much of the alcohol abuse done by the immigrants. As they passed down
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6 Reginald Byron, Irish America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 47-142
3 Cormac àGráda, Black '47 and Beyond: The Great Irish Famine in History, Economy and Memory (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1999) 18-120
4 Kerby Miller and Paul Wagner, Out of Ireland: The Story of Irish Emigration to America (Washington, D.C.: Elliot and Clark Publishing, 1994) 39-12
the tradition of great alcohol, they usually could not pass down many materialistic items through the generations. This is because of the fact that when they traveled to America during the famine, they could not bring much to America.6 Yet, they did pass on "to their children and their children's children, a burning hatred of the country that had been the cause of their misfortunes and exile." 7 The Irish assimilated fairly well into the American culture, except for the fact that they were strong Catholics who moved into an anti-Catholic nation. 5
In Ireland before the famine, there were many non-practicing Catholics who did not attend mass but rather practiced religion through customs at home. They took many pilgrimages to holy wells or sacred places. Even though they did not practice their faith inside the church back then, they are now the world's most faithfully practicing Catholics, with the highest rates of attendance at church compared to anywhere in the world. After arriving in America, Irish immigrants usually looked to their faith for strength, even knowing that they were hated for being Catholic. At the time of the famine, the United States was predominantly Protestant. "The great majority of the American people are, in heart and soul, anti-Catholic". 4 The American people went on rages burning down Catholic churches during the years after the Famine. The
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6 Reginald Byron, Irish America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 47-142
5 Lawrence J. McCafrfrey, Textures of Irish America (New York: Syracuse University Press, 1992), 15 -166
4 Kerby Miller and Paul Wagner, Out of Ireland: The Story of Irish Emigration to America (Washington, D.C.: Elliot and Clark Publishing, 1994) 39-125
7 Giovanni Costigan, A History of Modern Ireland: with a Sketch of Earlier Times (New York Pegasus, 1969), 187-188
Irish had to ban together in order to survive in an alien, competitive environment in which majority of the people hated them. 5 The Irish immigrants were the first Catholics to arrive in the United States, in large numbers, which proved to have changed America forever.
The Irish arrival after the Famine significantly transformed the Catholic Church in The United States. Irish born priests helped to establish new churches in the United States which strengthened their faith during these rough times. The Catholic "Church proved not only to be a place of worship, but as a source of education, recreation, business and social life." Universities such as Georgetown and Notre Dame are the results of the Irish immigrants. "By the twentieth century, the Catholic Church had become the nation's largest religious denominations." 4As Americans, we have a lot of important aspects of our own culture that have been brought over by the Irish immigrants.
Not only has the Irish been responsible for bringing Catholicism to the United States, but also St. Patrick's Day, great whiskey and beer, along with establishing the cross-town rivalry by the Cubs and the Sox. St. Patrick is a very important saint to the Irish people. He was the saint who brought Christianity to Ireland and was admired dearly. This is way they celebrated St. Patrick's Day annually, and the American people have also adopted this holiday into their own culture. As mentioned earlier, the Irish brought over great beer and whiskey. There are many bars in America that serve many drinks that are from Ireland. Another interesting contribution
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4 Kerby Miller and Paul Wagner, Out of Ireland: The Story of Irish Emigration to America (Washington, D.C.: Elliot and Clark Publishing, 1994) 39-125
the Irish established, which many might not know, was the original cross-town rivalry between the Cubs and the Sox baseball team. The Irish immigrants would often get involved with sports in their free time. They believed it provided great opportunities within their own community because they were always oppressed. The Catholics loved to play the Protestant in sports because they felt it was comparable to being at war with them. . The Southside White sox started off as an Irish- Catholic team. The North side is the Cubs who were a Protestant team. 5 As American people, we should be very grateful for the Irish immigrants because they proved to be very significant in our history.
The bad conditions the Irish faced when arriving in America would be hard for anyone to tolerate. However, the Irish immigrants proved to be strong in overcoming the harsh oppression they faced. When coming to America they expected to see streets paved with gold, however they did not realize that they would be expected to pave the streets themselves- for a very low income. 4 They might not have found their gold at the rainbow as soon as they arrived in America. However after a few centuries, they are looked back upon as a very important immigrant group. Not only did they raise the American population significantly, they helped establish America as a country. 8 By doing the dirty work of America building roads, canals, and railroads and fighting
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5 Lawrence J. McCafrfrey, Textures of Irish America (New York: Syracuse University Press, 1992), 15 -166
4 Kerby Miller and Paul Wagner, Out of Ireland: The Story of Irish Emigration to America (Washington, D.C.: Elliot and Clark Publishing, 1994) 39-125
8 Francis M. Carrol, American Opinion and the Irish Question 1910-23: A study in opinion and policy (Dublin: Gill and Macmilan Ltd., 1978), 3-4
in the Civil War; the Irish immigrants have contributed significantly to the success of this beautiful immigrant country, America.
Bibliography
1. Daniel Webster Hollis III, The History of Ireland (Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2001),
XVI-102.
2. Edward Laxton, The Famine Ships: The Irish Exodus to America (New York: Henry Holt and
Company, 1997), 25-168
3. Cormac àGráda, Black '47 and Beyond: The Great Irish Famine in History, Economy and
Memory (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1999) 18-120
4. Kerby Miller and Paul Wagner, Out of Ireland: The Story of Irish Emigration to America
(Washington, D.C.: Elliot and Clark Publishing, 1994) 39-125
5. Lawrence J. McCafrfrey, Textures of Irish America (New York: Syracuse University Press,
1992), 15 -166
6. Reginald Byron, Irish America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 47-142
7. Giovanni Costigan, A History of Modern Ireland: with a Sketch of Earlier Times (New York
Pegasus, 1969), 187-188
8. Francis M. Carrol, American Opinion and the Irish Question 1910-23: A study in opinion and
policy (Dublin: Gill and Macmilan Ltd., 1978), 3-4