The
Blight Bites
The Irish Potato Famine
(http://adminstaff.vassar.edu/sttaylor/famine)
Emigration
The famine launched a wave of emigration. One of the few compromises possible for the Irish people at the time was to seek better prospects elsewhere. People fled Ireland for the promise of America. About one-third of the population loss in Ireland was due to emigration. When the famine began, 200,000 Irish immigrated to America.
Emigration held its own perils. Boats may have killed as many as the famine. Ships became known as floating coffins. The mortality rate on some ships was over 50%. Rats onboard carried diseases which spread to passengers, causing fevers that ravaged already weakened bodies. Fire and storms were also hazards.
To register at Ellis Island, immigrants had to pay ten to thirty dollars, and boys’ hair would be shaved off. Immigrants had no rights whatsoever, including access to a doctor.
(Bartoletti, 131)
“In this secluded spot lie the mortal remains of 5424 persons who flying from Pestilence and Famine in Ireland in the year 1847 found in America but a Grave” (Prior, 19). Monument in memory of deceased Immigrants.
“Skibbereen -
My Son, I loved our native land with energy and pride Until a blight fell on the land and sheep and cattle died. The rents and taxes were to pay, I could not them redeem, And that’s the cruel reason why I left Old Skibbereen.
It’s well I do remember on a bleak November day, The landlord and his agent came to drive us all away; He set my house on fire with his demon yellow spleen; And that’s another reason why I left Old Skibbereen”
(Traditional Irish Famine Folk Song).