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Irish Immigration To America Essay

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Ireland in America

The United States has always been known as "The Land of Immigrants." People from all parts of the globe have traveled to America, to be free from oppression, disease, and hunger, or simply to start a new life. Many different people of different culture, race, and religion have made their mark and helped to shape the American culture. One of the most influential immigration movements in American History is the Irish Immigration. During the 18th century the Irish slowly began their migration to America. Centuries of oppression from Protestant English rule had forced them to live very poor lives under strict rules, in some cases having to renounce their Catholic beliefs and having to abandon their Gaelic …show more content…

The women worked manly as servants called "Brigets," to upper class families.

In the south, mainly New Orleans, the Irish lived in the swampland, living with diseases such as yellow fever and malaria. The Irish men were looked at as lower than slaves, as one historian puts it "If a plantation owner loses a slave, he loses an investment, If a plantation owner loses a laborer he can just find another" (Walt). Because of this, many were put into very dangerous jobs.

In cities such as Boston and New York, Irish immigrants were packed into slums and many still were dying as a result of hunger and disease. The Irish were discriminated against, mainly for being Catholics in an almost exclusively Protestant society. Many factories and employers posted signs on their doors, "workers wanted, no Irish need apply" (Considine 5). With the low wages that the Irish were earning (although much higher than they would receive in Ireland), one would think that the money would all be spent on feeding and housing the worker and their family, but this was not the case. "Through backbreaking sacrifice, they were able to send home a few shillings or pounds at a time until a sister, a brother, a mother, father, daughter, aunt, uncle, cousin or friend had enough money to buy the ship ticket" (Considine 46). This devotion of the Irish to their family and their fellow countrymen is a remarkable aspect of their culture.

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