Irish Emigration to New York City
The Potato Famine - How, Why, and When the Famine Started
Many historians equate the Irish immigration to America with the potato famine of the 1840s, but is is clear that a considerable number of Irish had made their way to Great Britain’s colonies on the North American mainland before 1800. For example, many Irish families came and settled the colonies in the early 1600s. Harbors and towns were named after settlers. Some of these settlers even became Royal governors; one example is Sir Thomas Dongan, who became governor of the colony of New York in 1682. Some other examples of early settlers: in 1670, Charleston, South Carolina was settled by Irish and English emigrants. Sullivan's Island in the Charleston Harbor was named after Captain Florence O'Sullivan who had commanded one of the settler's ships. In 1683, Salem County, New Jersey was settled by Irish immigrants from Tipperary. In 1710, the Blue Ridge region of Virginia was settled by three families from the north of Ireland. In 1762, the house of John Marshall at Mount Pleasant, near King's College (later Columbia) was the site of the first recorded celebration of St. Patrick's Day in New York City. In 1768, the Wesley Chapel in New York City was established by Irish Methodists. This was the first Methodist Church in America.
At the beginning of the 19th century, agriculture was Ireland’s dominant industry. The English prohibited the Irish from practicing their Catholic faith. The English stripped a number of wealthy Catholics of their wealth, their positions, and their homes, which left them paupers.
Moreover, no Irish Catholic was allowed to own land, vote, hold office, receive an education, own a gun, or eve...
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... Social Experience in the American City, 1760-1900. New York: Cambridge Press, 1989.
Byrne, Stephen. Irish Immigration to the United States. New York: Arno Press, 1969.
Ernst, Robert. Immigrant Life in New York City, 1825-1863. New York: King's Crown Press, 1949.
Ewen, Elizabeth. Immigrant Women in the Land of Dollars. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1985.
Pencak, William, Selma Berrol, and Randall Miller. Immigration to New York. Philadephia: Balch Institute Press, 1991.
Potter, George W. To the Golden Door; the Story of the Irish in Ireland and America. Boston: Little, Brown, 1960.
Stansell, Christine. City of Women. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1982.
[1] Robert Ernst, Immigrant Life in New York City, 1825-1863 (New York: King's Crown Press, 1949)
[2] Ernst, Immigrant Life, 59.
[3] Ernst, Immigrant Life, 67.
In the years from 1860 through 1890, the prospect of a better life attracted nearly ten million immigrants who settled in cities around the United States. The growing number of industries produced demands for thousands of new workers and immigrants were seeking more economic opportunities. Most immigrants settled near each other’s own nationality and/or original village when in America.
“Columbia’s Unwelcome Guests”, by Frank Beard (February 7, 1885), displays how the unrestricted US policies that were implemented were causing more immigrants to emigrate from Europe. The new aliens are depicted as anarchist, socialist, and the Mafia arriving from the sewers of Italy, Russia, and Germany. In the late nineteenth century, the U.S. government was not only concerned with the racialization of the immigrants entering the country, but also
Margaret Hilda Thatcher was Britain’s first female Prime Minister, leading England for almost eleven years. Nicknamed “ The Iron Lady” associated with her inflexible politics and strong mind , she had created policies that are now know to be called “Thatcherism.”Born on October 13,1925 in Grantham, England, Margaret grew up in a conservative home into a family of grocers and was introduced to politics through her father who was a local businessman and a member of the town council. Margaret married Denis Thatcher in 1951 and a year later welcomed their twins Carol and Mark Thatcher .
Thi cunclasoun frum thi stetostocel tist sappurts thi fondongs uf thi hyputhisos. Wrotir huwivir duis nut nicisseroly egrii whulihiertidly woth thi risierch ertocli. Wrotir fiils thiy eri sumi lomotetouns tu thi stady, ot duis nut eccuant fur uthir fecturs on thi eduliscints lofi, bisodis thior chusi on masoc thet mey lied tu saocodel thuaghts end fiilongs.
The life of Irish immigrants in Boston was one of poverty and discrimination. The religiously centered culture of the Irish has along with their importance on family has allowed the Irish to prosper and persevere through times of injustice. Boston's Irish immigrant population amounted to a tenth of its population. Many after arriving could not find suitable jobs and ended up living where earlier generations had resided. This attributed to the 'invisibility' of the Irish.
In the beginning, life was not easy for the numerous Irish - Catholic immigrants who fled the Great Potato Famine of 1845 and, “. . . Protestant ascendancy, British colonialism and turbulence in their own country. . . “(2) Because of their lack of funds many Irish immigrants landed in less expensive Canadian ports, and then walked down into the United States.(3) Not only was the ocean voyage difficult, but once reaching the United States, most immigrants found that they were not welcomed with open arms, but rather pushed away because of their religious affiliations. Catholics found themselves the minority and targets of discrimination.(4) Settled Americans saw the new influx of Irish immigrants as a plague, dirtying their streets and neighborhoods, filling their jails and sanitariums, creating public disruption. “Negative stereotypes imported from England characterizing the Irish as pugnacious, drunken, semi-savage, were common and endured. . . “(5) A...
Margaret Thatcher was born on October 13, 1925 in Grantham, England. Her father, Alfred Roberts, was one of the most important influences in her life and was the one who introduced her to the world of conservative politics. He was a devout Methodist, a local businessman, lay preacher and local mayor. They lived within the close community of the local congregation, surrounded by strong values of charitable work and personal honesty. She was later accepted to Oxford University to pursue a career of becoming a research chemist. Her views were deeply influenced by one of her instructors, Dorothy Hodgkin, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist. At the same time, she became interested in politics where she was elected as the president of the student Conservative Association at the Oxford University. She earned her degree in 1947, and worked as a research chemist in Colchester and in Dartford. During her free time, she studied law and became a barrister in 1954. In 1951, she married Denis Thatcher, a wealthy businessman, and had twins in 1953.
During the nineteenth century the amount of immigration to the united states was increasing rapidly. The largest proportion of these “new” immigrants were from Italy, Russia, and Ireland. There was a combined reac...
Populated by 8 million people, Irish, with a majority of Roman Catholic, are among the poorest people in the western world. Only about a quarter of the population could read and write, and their life expectancy was relatively short. Ireland was an exceedingly impoverished country. Under the english rule, citizens lost many of their political and religious rights. They were separated between protestants, who represents the continued presence of England, and Roman Catholics, who were hostile to Britain. The hostile of Britain faced many more challenges like being charged outrageous sums to live on the land that once belonged to them and their ancestors. They was on the verge of catastrophe politically, religiously, and economically. That is why emigration became an intrinsic part of Ireland before independence, and especially after the great famine. Many were forced to move, while others left voluntarily to search for employment and a better quality of life. Moreover, not all immigrants enjoyed their new life at British North America. Even though leaving Ireland appeared to be the only escape, Irish Catholic immigrants should not be thankful for a new start at British North America. Throughout the emigration, they have received phony promises by landlords during the famine, Irish faced the same problems of poverty and discrimination as before, and their living and working environment was deficient.
Whether dying old as an athlete or young, one has a greater affect than the other. As an athlete myself this topic relates to me quite well. Athletes in general, who do an outstanding job with their athletics, do things that are unexpected. Records are broken and championships were won. It has been twenty-one years since WHS has won a team state championship in swimming and diving. And in that twenty-one years we have finally done what is unimaginable and what was thought to be in 1993 the only championship that WHS would get. However, not only is swimming and diving a team sport it is also an individual sport. How we do in our individual events determines how we place as a team. This is also where people way before us, such as Guy Fulfer, has set state records and school records. Sadness begins in an athlete, but all begins in Housman’s “To an Athlete” and it does bring sadness to an athlete in three ways, disappointment, discouraged, and finally sadness.
8. Berrol, Selmacantor. The Empire City: New York and Its People. West Port, Conn: Praeger, 1997.
On December 31, 1890 a transition in history occured. New York City would start a new era in the history of the United States starting with the opening of Ellis Island as an immigration depo. This attracted many immigrants to the United Stated because of more job opportunities and as means to start a new life. As more immigrants came to America, it began to be known as the "land of opportunities". Immigrants coming in filled work spaces in industries with the hopes of someday becoming successful. These immigrants helped prove to other future immigrants that if you moved to America then you could start a better life for yourself and your families. On the other hand with positives come negatives and there were many involving immigration.
Whether in the Old World of community, familial relationships and traditional values, or in the New World of non-traditional relationships, individualism and uncertainty, the struggle for survival predominates the immigrant narrative. Religious and racial intolerance, social upheaval, economic hardship, and political turmoil underscore the causes of emigration, but the New world was far from idyllic, and traces of these scourges checkered the landscape of the New World as well as the Mother land.
During the Victorian era, England experienced tremendous growth in wealth and industry while Ireland struggled to survive. The reasons for Ireland's inability to take advantage of the Industrial Revolution are complex, and have been the subject of debate for more than a century. Many English viewed the Irish as stubborn farmers who refused to embrace the new technology. The Irish, however, believed the English had sabotaged their efforts to industrialize. The truth of why the Irish fared so badly while England became the most powerful nation in the world probably lies somewhere between these two extremes.
During the last 10-15 years of the Progressive Era, more than 15 million immigrants arrived in the United States— a number equal to the total number of immigrants that arrived in the previous 40 years. In 1910, three-fourths of New York City's population was made up of either immigrants or first generation Americans. Unlike earlier immigrants, the majority of the newcomers during this time came from non-English speaking European countries. Immigrants mostly traveled in from...