1 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:05,920 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday, everybody. Today we have the second part of 2 00:00:05,920 --> 00:00:08,480 Speaker 1: our two parter on the Great Famine that struck Ireland 3 00:00:08,560 --> 00:00:13,080 Speaker 1: starting in eight This famine grew out of ongoing persecution 4 00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:17,320 Speaker 1: and subjugation of Irish people, particularly Irish Catholics, which we 5 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 1: talk more about in part one. This episode originally came 6 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:27,920 Speaker 1: out on June n Welcome to Stuff You Missed in 7 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:37,000 Speaker 1: History Class, a production of I Heart Radio. Hello, and 8 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:39,559 Speaker 1: welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Fry and I am 9 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:43,320 Speaker 1: Tracy V. Wilson. So, Tracy, we're going to continue, yes, 10 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:45,560 Speaker 1: the story we started last time, So we're gonna pick 11 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:49,239 Speaker 1: up on the the Irish potato Famine and to recap 12 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:52,040 Speaker 1: just a little bit, in the mid eighteen hundreds of 13 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:54,440 Speaker 1: the social and political climate that we talked about in 14 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 1: the previous episode had led Ireland to depend really heavily 15 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:01,160 Speaker 1: on the potato as a food crop. The poorest people 16 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:05,080 Speaker 1: in Ireland ate almost nothing but potatoes, and anything that 17 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:07,640 Speaker 1: was anything else that was being grown on a farm 18 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:10,640 Speaker 1: wasn't really being raised to eat. It was being raised 19 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:14,399 Speaker 1: to sell to pay the rent. So potatoes were filling 20 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:16,880 Speaker 1: bellies and everything else was paying for the land that 21 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 1: you were living on So when a blight cut just 22 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:22,880 Speaker 1: a huge swath through the potato crop in eighteen forty 23 00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:26,800 Speaker 1: five and almost wiped it out entirely in eighteen forty six, 24 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:30,880 Speaker 1: the impact on Ireland was severe. So in this episode 25 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:34,119 Speaker 1: we're going to look at how this intersection of politics 26 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:39,280 Speaker 1: and farming unfolded. So in eighteen forty six, when the 27 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:43,160 Speaker 1: blight was in full swing, the British government's response was minimal. 28 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:46,039 Speaker 1: In the government's less a fair view and that of 29 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:49,120 Speaker 1: many landowners who had holdings in Ireland, all of the 30 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:53,640 Speaker 1: obvious relief measures like providing food or subsidies were counterproductive. 31 00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:56,560 Speaker 1: They would threaten free enterprise and cause the Irish to 32 00:01:56,600 --> 00:02:01,280 Speaker 1: become dependent upon government handouts. The government's desire not to 33 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:04,240 Speaker 1: influence free enterprise also meant that it didn't want to 34 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:08,520 Speaker 1: meddle in other business affairs, like the practice of exporting 35 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:12,160 Speaker 1: grain out of Ireland and into England. Instead, it was 36 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:15,680 Speaker 1: pretty much business as usual, so food exporters in Ireland, 37 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:18,560 Speaker 1: many of whom were owned by people living in England, 38 00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:23,040 Speaker 1: just kept exporting food as normal. So when the potato 39 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:26,400 Speaker 1: crops died, Irish farmers kept selling all their other crops 40 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 1: to pay the rent, the choice was one of starvation 41 00:02:29,919 --> 00:02:32,920 Speaker 1: or eviction. Uh the people who owned the farms would 42 00:02:32,919 --> 00:02:36,000 Speaker 1: then export the other crops out of Ireland. So throughout 43 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:41,640 Speaker 1: the famine, Ireland continued exporting grains, rabbits, butter, fish, onions, honey, 44 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:45,040 Speaker 1: and other foods, along with non food items like woolen leather. 45 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 1: So they were sending food away while they were starving 46 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:52,000 Speaker 1: to death. So weather stopping these exports and distributing this 47 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:54,919 Speaker 1: food to Irish farmers would have stopped the famine is 48 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:58,840 Speaker 1: a hotly contested subject. Some scholars argue that the potato 49 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:01,320 Speaker 1: made up so much of the Irish food supply that 50 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:04,800 Speaker 1: no amount of other food grown there could have possibly 51 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:09,480 Speaker 1: filled that gap. But regardless, shipping food out of Ireland 52 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:13,440 Speaker 1: while people were starving looked really bad. There were riots 53 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:16,360 Speaker 1: and ports cities in response to these shiploads of food 54 00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:19,919 Speaker 1: that were living leaving Ireland bound for England. River boats 55 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:24,640 Speaker 1: and ports were appointed military guards. And really, even if 56 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:28,520 Speaker 1: keeping the food in Ireland would have been a feudal effort, 57 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:32,720 Speaker 1: this continued export was really deeply damaging to the relationship 58 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:36,880 Speaker 1: between England and Ireland. People scavenged what they could eat 59 00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:39,400 Speaker 1: and they sold their belongings to try to pay for food. 60 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 1: Even in coastal areas where fish were plentiful, the fish 61 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:45,320 Speaker 1: were generally in water that was too deep and treacherous 62 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:48,400 Speaker 1: for people to reach in their small boats with ordinary nts. 63 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:51,720 Speaker 1: That winter, which is the winter of eighteen forty six, 64 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:54,960 Speaker 1: also saw one of the worst blizzards in Ireland's history, 65 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:59,040 Speaker 1: with snow reaching the roof lines of people's huts by 66 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:01,760 Speaker 1: eighteen forty seven, and it had become clear that this 67 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:04,120 Speaker 1: was not just a temporary situation that was going to 68 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:07,400 Speaker 1: be relieved by the next year's harvest. Even though the 69 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:11,360 Speaker 1: blight did disappear that year, the seven crop was healthy, 70 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:13,520 Speaker 1: but not enough had been planted in the spring to 71 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:17,160 Speaker 1: sustain everyone. People had resorted to eating the potatoes they 72 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:20,240 Speaker 1: would have normally reserved for replanting, and many were so 73 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:22,800 Speaker 1: weakened by hunger and illness that they weren't able to 74 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:26,080 Speaker 1: get their crops in the ground. While many people wanted 75 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:28,920 Speaker 1: to plant something other than potatoes, at this point, seeds 76 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:32,000 Speaker 1: for new crops were often beyond their means, so they 77 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 1: planted what they could get, which was mostly potatoes. Britain 78 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:38,640 Speaker 1: opened soup kitchens to help get food to needy people, 79 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:41,120 Speaker 1: and the death toll did start to drop a little bit, 80 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:45,080 Speaker 1: but the kitchens didn't last for very long. Parliament enacted 81 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:50,039 Speaker 1: the Irish Poor Law Extension Act on June seven, which 82 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:53,840 Speaker 1: once again moved the British government away from providing direct 83 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:56,960 Speaker 1: aid to the Irish. Under this act, it was up 84 00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:01,400 Speaker 1: to the Irish landlords to support their impoverished tenants. Government 85 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:04,080 Speaker 1: soup kitchens were scheduled to be closed and they had 86 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:07,360 Speaker 1: only existed for about six months, and the public works 87 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:10,279 Speaker 1: programs that were meant to support the Irish were shut down. 88 00:05:11,279 --> 00:05:13,920 Speaker 1: The Poor Law Extension Act also made it a lot 89 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:17,159 Speaker 1: harder for people to enter one of Britain's workhouses, which 90 00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:20,200 Speaker 1: at this point was a last refuge for the destitute farmers. 91 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:24,479 Speaker 1: Britain had created the system of workhouses in eighteen thirty eight. 92 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:26,800 Speaker 1: There were a hundred and thirty of them which could 93 00:05:26,839 --> 00:05:30,359 Speaker 1: accommodate about a hundred thousand people. Once they arrived at 94 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:33,599 Speaker 1: a workhouse, families were divided up and giving given separate 95 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:37,240 Speaker 1: housing for women and men, and they wore uniforms. They 96 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:39,520 Speaker 1: weren't allowed to leave the building, and they worked for 97 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:43,040 Speaker 1: ten hour days. The youngest children would get school lessons 98 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:45,600 Speaker 1: and older children would get training on how to work 99 00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:49,919 Speaker 1: in a factory. These workhouses were dirty and demoralizing, and 100 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:54,200 Speaker 1: illnesses spread really quickly in such tight quarters. And apart 101 00:05:54,279 --> 00:05:56,760 Speaker 1: from all of this, the whole idea of going to 102 00:05:56,839 --> 00:06:00,160 Speaker 1: a workhouse was just an extreme humiliation, which made were 103 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:04,200 Speaker 1: really reluctant to do it. But even so, conditions were 104 00:06:04,279 --> 00:06:07,040 Speaker 1: so bad in Ireland the workhouses were quickly strained at 105 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:10,839 Speaker 1: the breaking point. The government implemented stricter and stricter rules 106 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:12,839 Speaker 1: about who could go to a workhouse in a in 107 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:16,039 Speaker 1: an attempt to stem the tide, and under the new 108 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:18,479 Speaker 1: poor laws, men had to give up any other means 109 00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:21,000 Speaker 1: of making a living if they wanted to enter a workhouse. 110 00:06:30,320 --> 00:06:34,039 Speaker 1: So two point six million Irish people went to these 111 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:39,760 Speaker 1: institutions during the faminees. They were hugely vastly overcrowded. Conditions were, 112 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:43,359 Speaker 1: on top of being overcrowded, just very dirty and difficult, 113 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:46,440 Speaker 1: and more than two hundred thousand people died in the 114 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:51,440 Speaker 1: workhouses that were meant to help them. By eighty seven, 115 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:55,200 Speaker 1: the problem was actually money. Thanks to the healthy but 116 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:58,159 Speaker 1: very small potato crop, there was plenty of food, but 117 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:00,360 Speaker 1: nobody had money to buy it or to pay the 118 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:03,599 Speaker 1: rent on the land. Even the British government was having 119 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:06,600 Speaker 1: financial problems because it had been hit by a banking crisis. 120 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:10,320 Speaker 1: Landlords who didn't want to be saddled with supporting their 121 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:14,200 Speaker 1: tenants as was required under the poor laws, or didn't 122 00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:16,200 Speaker 1: have the money to do so. Because it's had it's 123 00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:18,480 Speaker 1: had a trickle up effect. People who couldn't pay their 124 00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:21,960 Speaker 1: rent meant that the landlords also had no money. A 125 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:24,480 Speaker 1: lot of them chose to evict people who couldn't pay 126 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:27,640 Speaker 1: the rent. About half a million Irish people were evicted 127 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:31,040 Speaker 1: during the famine. Often the male head of the household 128 00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:33,440 Speaker 1: would go to jail for nonpayment of his rent and 129 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:35,640 Speaker 1: the rest of the family would just be left homeless. 130 00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:39,760 Speaker 1: Many families, once they got a notice of their impending eviction, 131 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:43,280 Speaker 1: chose to flee rather than standing trial for this reason, 132 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:48,120 Speaker 1: or landlords would pay for their tenants to be transported 133 00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:52,080 Speaker 1: to British North America, primarily Quebec Canada, on chips that 134 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:55,560 Speaker 1: were so poorly made, overcrowded, and disease written that they 135 00:07:55,600 --> 00:08:00,920 Speaker 1: were actually nicknamed coffin chips. Following eighteen four seven's healthy 136 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:05,000 Speaker 1: but small harvest, many people were hopeful that Ireland had 137 00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:07,360 Speaker 1: turned a corner. You know. People kept thinking that this 138 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:09,600 Speaker 1: was just a temporary thing and that one more good 139 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:13,280 Speaker 1: harvest would would fix the problem. But people had spent 140 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:15,960 Speaker 1: the very last of their money getting a potato crop 141 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:18,800 Speaker 1: into the ground to support themselves for the following year, 142 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:23,960 Speaker 1: and then in again thanks to wet weather conditions, the 143 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:29,400 Speaker 1: blight came back and uh the English, not understanding why 144 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:32,960 Speaker 1: the Irish had planted potatoes instead of something else, demanded 145 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:36,040 Speaker 1: that the Irish pay for their own relief. So taxes 146 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:40,240 Speaker 1: were actually increased on farmers and landlords. For Irish farmers, 147 00:08:40,280 --> 00:08:43,920 Speaker 1: this was really the last straw, and immigration out of 148 00:08:43,960 --> 00:08:48,040 Speaker 1: Ireland began in earnest. People had been immigrating from Ireland 149 00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:50,800 Speaker 1: in the years before the famine, so immigrating was not 150 00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:54,599 Speaker 1: a new thing. In particular, young men had gone to 151 00:08:54,640 --> 00:08:57,640 Speaker 1: the United States to work as manual labors, and American 152 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:00,960 Speaker 1: companies would advertise for workers and Irish cities in the 153 00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:05,320 Speaker 1: years before the famine. Between eighteen fifteen and eighteen forty five, 154 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:09,280 Speaker 1: nearly a million Irish people had gone to America for 155 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:13,000 Speaker 1: the sake of comparison, that's about half as many as 156 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:16,240 Speaker 1: left Ireland in the ten years between eighteen forty five 157 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:18,960 Speaker 1: and eighteen fifty five, which are thought of as the 158 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:23,640 Speaker 1: famine years, but the immigration during the famine was different, 159 00:09:23,679 --> 00:09:28,520 Speaker 1: both in scale and just in sheer awfulness. On the 160 00:09:28,559 --> 00:09:31,160 Speaker 1: Coffin ships to Canada, the trip could take up to 161 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:34,480 Speaker 1: three months. The people aboard were so sick by the 162 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:37,880 Speaker 1: time they arrived that the quarantine facility in Quebec ran 163 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:40,800 Speaker 1: out of room, leading to a backlog that kept the 164 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:44,239 Speaker 1: passengers on newly arrived ships from being able to disembark, 165 00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:46,800 Speaker 1: so the ships would just sit there in port with 166 00:09:46,960 --> 00:09:52,360 Speaker 1: sick and dying and deceased people aboard. Eventually, quarantine and 167 00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:55,559 Speaker 1: inspection procedures were abandoned and the passengers were allowed to 168 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:58,400 Speaker 1: go on their way, meaning that the Irish people arriving 169 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:01,920 Speaker 1: at various cities in Canada were extremely ill, They were homeless, 170 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:05,079 Speaker 1: and they were destitute. So many sick people arrived in 171 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:08,120 Speaker 1: Quebec that there was a typhus epidemic in Canada, which 172 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:11,480 Speaker 1: came directly from the influx of immigrants from Ireland. In 173 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:15,080 Speaker 1: eighteen forty seven, about a hundred thousand people sailed from 174 00:10:15,080 --> 00:10:18,480 Speaker 1: Ireland to Canada and about twenty percent of them died 175 00:10:18,559 --> 00:10:22,600 Speaker 1: from disease or malnutrition. Those who could afford it went 176 00:10:22,679 --> 00:10:25,680 Speaker 1: instead to the United States, mostly to the port cities 177 00:10:25,679 --> 00:10:29,720 Speaker 1: of New York, Boston, Charleston, Savannah, and New Orleans, where 178 00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:33,480 Speaker 1: for the most part they faced illness, poverty, discrimination and 179 00:10:33,520 --> 00:10:38,440 Speaker 1: bigotry and intense competition for unskilled jobs. And in New 180 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:41,080 Speaker 1: York Irish conman who built them out of their money 181 00:10:41,120 --> 00:10:44,160 Speaker 1: in exchange for a filthy place to stay. Yeah, basically 182 00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:46,280 Speaker 1: New York had been, of course one of the most 183 00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:49,520 Speaker 1: common ports of entry for people immigrating from Ireland, so 184 00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:51,920 Speaker 1: people who were getting off the boats during the blight 185 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:54,680 Speaker 1: would be greeted by what seemed to be a friendly 186 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:57,520 Speaker 1: face who spoke their language, and that would in fact 187 00:10:57,600 --> 00:10:59,439 Speaker 1: be a person who was going to steal all their money. 188 00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:04,000 Speaker 1: So delightful. No, there's a point at some at some 189 00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:06,920 Speaker 1: point in my outline previously there was just and did 190 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:09,080 Speaker 1: you think it was going to stop getting worse? Because 191 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:12,880 Speaker 1: it's just going to get worse. So the United States 192 00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:16,640 Speaker 1: was also not really on board with the idea of 193 00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:20,200 Speaker 1: becoming home to a bunch of really sick Irish immigrants, 194 00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:24,080 Speaker 1: so fairs to the United States from Ireland became way 195 00:11:24,120 --> 00:11:27,839 Speaker 1: more expensive, and ports along the East Coast started requiring 196 00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:30,320 Speaker 1: bonds from the captains of the ship to guarantee that 197 00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:33,000 Speaker 1: their passages were not going to become dependent on the 198 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:36,160 Speaker 1: government to live. And it wasn't just a matter of 199 00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:39,719 Speaker 1: jacking up fairs. The US law had laws regulating the 200 00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:43,120 Speaker 1: number of passengers a ship could hold and the ship's accommodations. 201 00:11:43,679 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 1: They were way more strict and more strictly enforced than 202 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:50,640 Speaker 1: British laws, which meant that the voyage was more expensive 203 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:53,280 Speaker 1: to begin with. Yeah, so you were more likely to 204 00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:56,160 Speaker 1: survive the ship on a on a ship that was 205 00:11:56,200 --> 00:11:58,720 Speaker 1: going to America because of these laws than a ship 206 00:11:58,760 --> 00:12:01,320 Speaker 1: going to Canada, but it also cost a lot more. 207 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:03,680 Speaker 1: It was much harder to get on those ships. Yes, 208 00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:15,719 Speaker 1: the people who had enough money to flee but not 209 00:12:15,920 --> 00:12:18,240 Speaker 1: enough money to get to the United States or Canada 210 00:12:18,559 --> 00:12:22,600 Speaker 1: would instead try to immigrate to England, with Liverpool, Glasgow 211 00:12:22,640 --> 00:12:26,000 Speaker 1: and South Wales being common destinations. But this trip, while 212 00:12:26,040 --> 00:12:29,400 Speaker 1: it was definitely a whole lot shorter, wasn't necessarily safer. 213 00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:33,120 Speaker 1: There was one ship that arrived in liver in Liverpool 214 00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:36,600 Speaker 1: with seventy two dead aboard after the captain battoned the 215 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:39,760 Speaker 1: hatches in a storm, and the people inside the deeply 216 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:44,080 Speaker 1: overcrowded ships suffocated. And while the hope was that at 217 00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:48,560 Speaker 1: least in England people wouldn't starve, Irish immigrants quickly overwhelmed 218 00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:52,079 Speaker 1: the city's In Liverpool, for example, Irish immigrants more than 219 00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:55,920 Speaker 1: doubled the population of the city and exhausted the relief services. 220 00:12:56,600 --> 00:13:01,480 Speaker 1: On June one, seven, in an attempt to leave Liverpool 221 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:05,880 Speaker 1: of just this insurmountable population explosion, the British government passed 222 00:13:05,880 --> 00:13:08,680 Speaker 1: a law that allowed Irish people to be deported back 223 00:13:08,679 --> 00:13:11,960 Speaker 1: to Ireland. In general, what would happen is these people 224 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:14,600 Speaker 1: would be abandoned on the docks once they were returned 225 00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:17,200 Speaker 1: to Ireland, where like we've said before, they had no 226 00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:20,640 Speaker 1: home and no money. Similar laws were enacted in other 227 00:13:20,679 --> 00:13:23,720 Speaker 1: English cities that had a big influx of Irish immigrants. 228 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:30,320 Speaker 1: So even after the blight disappeared, the famine had so 229 00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:34,680 Speaker 1: completely changed the political and ethnic landscape in Ireland, England, 230 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:38,600 Speaker 1: and even much of North America. The American immigrant population 231 00:13:38,679 --> 00:13:43,240 Speaker 1: became overwhelmingly Irish really quickly, and non Irish Americans who 232 00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:48,120 Speaker 1: associated Irish people with poverty and disease, shiftlessness, and the 233 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:53,160 Speaker 1: still pretty distrusted Catholicism carried a lot of anti Irish prejudice. 234 00:13:54,160 --> 00:13:58,080 Speaker 1: Deep anti Irish and anti Catholic sentiment remained until the 235 00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:00,839 Speaker 1: Civil War, when the tide started to turn a little 236 00:14:00,920 --> 00:14:03,800 Speaker 1: as Irish fighting units proved themselves to be both brave 237 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:07,240 Speaker 1: and dependable, and Irish laborers filled a need for workers. 238 00:14:07,320 --> 00:14:10,720 Speaker 1: After the war was over, and eventually Irish Catholics found 239 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:14,680 Speaker 1: that they could influence local politics by voting. Irish Catholics 240 00:14:14,679 --> 00:14:18,679 Speaker 1: made their way into public office and started influencing public policy, 241 00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:22,200 Speaker 1: which made life for Irish immigrants a little easier in 242 00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:26,400 Speaker 1: the United States. Back in Ireland during the Blades aftermath, 243 00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:31,160 Speaker 1: the economy was still in dire straits. Landowners were deeply 244 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:33,720 Speaker 1: in debt, and many sold their land just to get 245 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:36,680 Speaker 1: out from under it. This lieutenant farmers who had been 246 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:41,680 Speaker 1: working that land homeless. Ireland's recovery continued to just be 247 00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:46,160 Speaker 1: really slow after the famine was gone um, both because 248 00:14:46,160 --> 00:14:50,080 Speaker 1: of the sudden population drop and the consequent drop in 249 00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:54,320 Speaker 1: how much farm labor was available uh and the economic 250 00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:58,080 Speaker 1: fallout from the famine. It's hard to make precise estimates 251 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:01,200 Speaker 1: of exactly how bad the final death hole was. Census 252 00:15:01,280 --> 00:15:04,440 Speaker 1: records at the time weren't super precise, but the most 253 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:07,920 Speaker 1: commonly cited statistics are that one million people died. Most 254 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:12,960 Speaker 1: didn't die of starvation, but of diseases like relapsing fever, typhus, dysentery, 255 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:17,160 Speaker 1: and cholera. Hunger made people more susceptible, and poverty and 256 00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:21,480 Speaker 1: overcrowning cause these diseases to spread rapidly. Another about two 257 00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:25,280 Speaker 1: million people left Ireland as a direct result of the famine, 258 00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:28,560 Speaker 1: with most of them heading to England, Canada or the 259 00:15:28,640 --> 00:15:32,960 Speaker 1: United States. The population was about eight point four million 260 00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:36,760 Speaker 1: people in Ireland in eighteen forty four. That had fallen 261 00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:40,560 Speaker 1: to six point six million in eighteen fifty one, and 262 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:44,040 Speaker 1: in the end that the years thought of as the 263 00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:49,200 Speaker 1: Famine Years saw a drop in the Irish population by 264 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:54,400 Speaker 1: twenty to twenty five, and the population actually continued to 265 00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:57,600 Speaker 1: drop in the aftermath, so that when Ireland gained independence 266 00:15:57,640 --> 00:16:00,880 Speaker 1: in one its population was actually half of what it 267 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:05,000 Speaker 1: was before the famine began. Debate about how to interpret 268 00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:09,200 Speaker 1: the government's response to the famine continues today. On the 269 00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:12,120 Speaker 1: one hand, is the Nationalist review that the government could 270 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:15,240 Speaker 1: have made better choices and is pretty much responsible for 271 00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:20,520 Speaker 1: the huge death toll. The revisionist view is more sympathetic 272 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:22,600 Speaker 1: to the government and the landlords, and it takes the 273 00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:27,760 Speaker 1: opposite stance and the most extreme national nationalist view. This 274 00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:31,560 Speaker 1: famine wasn't really a famine. It was genocide. Uh that's 275 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:34,560 Speaker 1: not that doesn't gain a lot of traction in the 276 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:37,000 Speaker 1: world of academia, but it is a view that a 277 00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:39,120 Speaker 1: lot of people take that because a lot of the 278 00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:43,120 Speaker 1: policy was so anti Irish that what was happening was 279 00:16:43,200 --> 00:16:47,800 Speaker 1: the deliberate extermination of Irish people through the tool of hunger. 280 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:51,760 Speaker 1: Because of the famine and the blight was actually identified 281 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:57,440 Speaker 1: what this disease had actually been in May of as 282 00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:02,600 Speaker 1: a probably now extinct strain of uh phight Opthora infestans, 283 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:06,240 Speaker 1: which is native to South America and Mexico. It almost 284 00:17:06,320 --> 00:17:10,640 Speaker 1: certainly came to Ireland the board ships from Mexico having 285 00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:15,200 Speaker 1: contaminated other crops, and it completely changed their history forever. 286 00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:18,600 Speaker 1: It did it and consequently the history of other countries 287 00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:21,680 Speaker 1: as well, right and it's it became sort of the 288 00:17:21,880 --> 00:17:27,040 Speaker 1: hallmark of more recent Irish history. Like Ireland, Ireland has 289 00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:31,200 Speaker 1: had a lot of unhappy events in its history, UM, 290 00:17:31,800 --> 00:17:35,119 Speaker 1: and the potato famine is cited as one that just 291 00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:40,960 Speaker 1: had a deep and long lasting effect on everything about Ireland, 292 00:17:41,160 --> 00:17:45,119 Speaker 1: and there are there's a whole body of literature that 293 00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:48,119 Speaker 1: draws directly from the famine. UM. When you talk to 294 00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:51,240 Speaker 1: people who live in the United States who have Irish family, 295 00:17:51,359 --> 00:17:54,000 Speaker 1: a lot of people will say, that's when my grandparents 296 00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:55,800 Speaker 1: came to the United States, or that's when my great 297 00:17:55,800 --> 00:18:00,160 Speaker 1: grandparents came to the United States. And yet a lot 298 00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:03,240 Speaker 1: of the education about it, it begins and ends with 299 00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:05,840 Speaker 1: potatoes and they died. Yeah, it's pretty quick. I mean, 300 00:18:05,880 --> 00:18:10,080 Speaker 1: we really don't get that much in depth in it. Yeah. Well, 301 00:18:10,119 --> 00:18:13,480 Speaker 1: and some of that is because some of the classroom 302 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:16,720 Speaker 1: discussions on the famine are in sort of the late 303 00:18:16,880 --> 00:18:20,320 Speaker 1: elementary and middle school years. Uh, and it's, you know, 304 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:23,320 Speaker 1: getting into all the political complex complexity surrounding it is 305 00:18:23,359 --> 00:18:27,159 Speaker 1: maybe not quite appropriate for that age level. But even so, 306 00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:30,080 Speaker 1: considering you know, you and I live in the United States, 307 00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:33,440 Speaker 1: considering what a huge effect the famine had on the 308 00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:36,920 Speaker 1: demographics of the United States and politics and religion and 309 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:40,760 Speaker 1: all of that kind of thing, it seems a little 310 00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:46,600 Speaker 1: weird that there's not a more through uh discussion of 311 00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:56,080 Speaker 1: it later on in the later school years. Thy so 312 00:18:56,240 --> 00:18:59,280 Speaker 1: much for joining us on this Saturday. 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