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Judging Criteria. District Contests. State Contest. National Contest. In most cases, they had little or no previous experience in these roles; these positions were the limit of their aspirations. The Boston Pilot. From to , this national newspaper published 'Missing Friends' advertisements which usually referred to the exact townland of origin of either the person being sought or the person who placed the ad.
They route of the individual's journey to America, and even the name of the ship, were often stated.
Many of the ads refer to women, for whom determining the exact place of origin can often be more difficult because they didn't apply for naturalisation this status was passed to them by their husband. Some databases charge for this resource but you'll find an incomplete version is available free through the Boston College Irish Studies Program. A job — a wage — was what they were seeking, and they didn't really care too much about the detail. Being unskilled, uneducated and typically illiterate, they accepted the most menial jobs that other immigrant groups did not want.
So-called 'Elegant Society' looked down on them, and so did nearly everyone else! They were forced to work long hours for minimal pay. Their cheap labour was needed by America's expanding cities for the construction of canals, roads, bridges, railroads and other infrastructure projects, and also found employment in the mining and quarrying industries. When the economy was strong, Irish immigrants to America were welcomed. But when boom times turned down, as they did in the mids, social unrest followed and it could be especially difficult for immigrants who were considered to be taking jobs from Americans.
Being already low in the pecking order, the Irish suffered great discrimination. After , the tide of Irish immigration to America levelled off. However, the continuing steady numbers encouraged ship builders to construct bigger vessels. Most of them still made the voyage east with commodities to feed England's industrial revolution, but shipowners began to realise the economic advantages of specialising in steerage passengers.
Conditions onboard began to improve -not to a standard that could even remotely be called comfortable today, but improved, all the same. By iron steamships of over tons were becoming increasingly common, and competition was growing. Many children took to begging, and men often spent what little money they had on alcohol.
The Irish immigrants were not well-liked and often treated badly. Many unskilled workers feared being put out of work by Irish immigrants willing to work for less than the going rate.
The Irish also faced religious prejudice as almost all of them were Catholic. With the large number of Irish immigrants flooding into the cities, Catholicism came close to being the largest single Christian denomination in the country. Many Protestants feared that the Irish were under the power of the Pope and could never be truly patriotic Americans. Large numbers of Irish Catholics who had enlisted in the Union Army and fought bravely at the battles of Antietam and Gettysburg came back from the war and found that things were beginning to change.
As America became more industrialized after the Civil War, Irish laborers found new, and better-paid, work. Many worked building railroads and in factories and mines. They helped organize trade unions and led strikes for shorter hours and better pay. And many became involved in local political machines and began to play a role in city and state politics. The political machines, like Tammany Hall in New York, were associated with the Democratic Party and ran many of the big cities.
In return for their political support, the Tammany Hall bosses helped immigrants through the naturalization process and even provided necessities like food and coal in time of emergency. The Irish Catholics ran Tammany Hall for years and helped many poor immigrant groups, including Poles, Italians, and Jews, as well as their own. The Irish rose out of the ghetto not only because of politics, but also because of education.
As the families of Irish immigrants became more prosperous, they were able to send their children to Catholic parochial schools run by the local parishes. After graduation from high school, many went on to college and then into careers in medicine, law, and business. By , only 15 percent of Irish-American men were still unskilled workers. By the s, the Irish had spread into all spheres of American life. And in , John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the great-grandson of a famine immigrant, was elected president of the United States.
Waves of other immigrants, fleeing poverty and persecution, have followed in their footsteps and slowly found acceptance, and success, in America. What problems did the Irish face in America? What factors helped them overcome these problems? Which do you think was the most important factor?
In this activity, students will role play an Irish family and decide whether or not to immigrate to the United States. Form small groups.
Each group should:. Imagine you are an Irish family during the Potato Famine deciding whether to immigrate to America. Using information from the article, discuss the conditions in Ireland, the dangers of the voyage, and the conditions of Irish immigrants in America. Alumni Volunteers The Boardroom Alumni. Curriculum Materials. Add Event. Main Menu Home. The Blight Strikes In the summer of , the potato crop appeared to be flourishing. Nowhere to Turn Many Irish believe that the British government should have done more to help Ireland during the famine.
Leaving for America Driven by panic and desperation, a flood of emigrants left Ireland in Jobs were hard to find. Employers often advertised their unwillingness to take on the newcomers by hanging out "No Irish Need Apply" signs. Irish women did find work as domestics, stereotyped as "Biddies," short for Bridget. Irish men also became servants or took unskilled jobs in construction. Harper's Weekly , the most popular magazine of the day, routinely ran cartoons lampooning Bridget and Patrick.
The overt hostility these cartoons convey is a measure of how unwelcome the Irish were. They also express some of the fear they inspired. They filled the jails, workhouses, poor farms and lunatic hospitals. Worcester, Massachusetts' Know-Nothing newspaper claimed in an editorial on the eve of that city's mayoraly contest in Virtue was confronted on the streets by known harlots, young men decoyed to houses of infamy in open day, and beneath the very shadow of the Mayor's office, the courtesan bargained for the price of her embraces, and led her victims to a place of assignation.
All of this was because of the Irish. This reception did not surprise the Irish. They were used to English Protestants deriding their brogues, their religion, and their poverty.
They had endured centuries of oppression.
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