Picture: National Library of Ireland. Eviction of Michael Connell, Moyasta, Co.Clare. C Wikimedia Commons. Web. 8 May 2014.

Transcription

1 HTY 110HA Module 2 AVP Transcript Title: Early European Immigration Screen 1 Screen Title: Irish Push Factors: British Rule and Land Disputes National Library of Ireland. Eviction of Michael Connell, Moyasta, Co.Clare. C Wikimedia Commons. Web. 8 May Narrator: Welcome to this presentation discussing early European immigration. The Irish immigration to America involved a massive influx of immigrants that reached its apex during the mid-1800s. By the early 20th century there were more people of Irish descent living in America than in Ireland. What caused this huge out-migration? Tensions had been brewing between the Catholic Irish and the Protestant British who had ruled them for centuries as oppressive landlords. This image shows the eviction of an Irish tenant who could not pay his rent. Many of these landless Irish made their way to America Screen 2 Screen Title: Primary Irish Push Factor famine Skibbereen by James Mahony Wikimedia Commons. Web. 8 May Narrator: The most important push factor for Irish immigration, however, was the Great Potato Famine of the 1840s. The potato was the staple of the Irish diet, and it was the crop upon which poor Irish depended for survival. When the crop failed, widespread poverty and hunger swept Ireland, and those who could, left for what they hoped would be a brighter future in America. Screen 3

2 Irish settlement pattern Statistics of the Population of the United States. Irish American Wikimedia Commons. Web. 8 May Narrator: The Irish who came to America settled largely in the Northeastern port cities at which their ships docked since they had no money to travel any further. The darkest areas on this map show where they were most heavily concentrated. Their skills as farmers did not prepare them for skilled labor in America s urban centers, so they largely became low-paid unskilled factory workers and manual laborers. As such, they existed at the lowest levels of society, second only to the African American urban population of the time. Screen 4 Irish assets: English speaking Priests provided help with adjustment Looked like the majority culture Brady, Matthew, and Levin Corbin Hardy. John Hughes Archbishop. C Wikimedia Commons. Web. 8 May Narrator: Although they were mostly very poor, the Irish immigrants did have several assets. They were English speaking and they looked like the majority American culture. Also, as Catholics, they received assistance from the Catholic Church whose priests could assist them with finding housing and employment. The Catholic parish also provided them with an immediate sense of community in their new country. Screen 5 Screen Title: The Catholic Menace Nast, Thomas. The American River Ganges Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Web. 8 May 2014.

3 Narrator: However, while having the support of the Catholic Church was an asset, it was also a liability as Catholics were not trusted by the majority American population at this time. In this image, the menacing Catholic alligators have arrived at America s shore to unleash terror and indoctrination. Screen 6 Irish liabilities: Poor Catholic (asset and liability) Prejudice Discrimination Brady, Matthew, and Levin Corbin Hardy. John Hughes Archbishop. C Wikimedia Commons. Web. 8 May Narrator: Aside from their Catholic faith, their liabilities also included a crushing level of poverty. Additionally, the huge numbers of Irish who arrived during the mid to late 19th century caused fear among the majority American population who believed they were being overrun by poor Irish Catholic immigrants whose first allegiance was to the Pope and not to America. There was much prejudice against the Irish who were viewed as rowdy, brawling drunkards with no manners or self-control. The image seen here shows the way the Irish were typically depicted at the time as animalistic, uncouth apes. Screen 7 Tenement housing New York Leslie s Donovan Lane Five Points Wikimedia Commons. Web. 9 May Narrator: The Irish mostly lived in the poor areas of America s eastern cities and in Chicago, in the cheap, and often dangerous, tenement housing that was built to accommodate the millions of immigrant workers who poured into urban America from the mid-19th to the early-20th centuries.

4 This housing was crowded, with several families occupying spaces originally intended for one family. This overcrowding created unsanitary living conditions that resulted in an overabundance of garbage, sewage, rats, disease, and crime. Screen 8 Leslie Five Points, New York Wikimedia Commons. Web. 9 May Narrator: The most famous of these Irish slums was called Five Points and it was located on Manhattan s South Side. Here, poverty, crime, violence, fire, and death were commonplace. As shown in this image, these wealthy New Yorkers believed they required a police escort to walk through the Five Points slum. Notice the looks on the faces of the poor and of the rich. What emotions do you see on each face? How is the policeman using the billy club? What is he trying to protect the wealthy people from? Why might the wealthy people be there in the first place? Screen 9 Irish urban poverty foreshadowed urban poverty of future immigrant groups. Pictures: Keppler, Udo J. The Tenement A Menace to All Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Web. 9 May Hine, Lewis Wickles. Tenement House with Children in Front Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Web. 9 May Narrator: The Irish experience in America s urban slums would be replicated over and again by each new wave of immigrants who came to live and work in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, and other industrial cities. Screen 10 Screen Title: The Dead Rabbits v. The Bowery Boys

5 Dead Rabbits Barricade New York Wikimedia Commons. Web. 9 May Narrator: In order to address the urban issues that they faced, the Irish began to organize. This occurred at the street level in the form of clubs, which were really gangs organized around the local volunteer firefighting groups. Some of these had such colorful names as the Dead Rabbits, the Plug Uglies, and the Bowery Boys. In an environment of poverty, these clubs competed to put out fires to get a financial reward paid by the city to the group who got to the fire first and contained it. The battles to get to the fire first were legendary and soon the rivalries spread well beyond competition for reward money into full-fledged gang warfare. You can view a fictionalized account of these wars in a movie called Gangs of New York, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Screen 11 Nast, Thomas. Boss Tweed. C Wikipedia. Web. 9 May Narrator: A more organized form of addressing urban issues came in the form of political machines that were run by bosses who provided help for Irish immigrants in exchange for their votes. This business was conducted in the neighborhood pubs when factory work was done for the day. So, if a young man got arrested, his father might seek out the boss or one of his henchmen at the pub and ask for help getting his son out of jail. The father would then owe the boss a favor. A month or two before the next election, the father might receive a message from the boss telling him to grow a beard. On Election Day, he was to go vote for the boss, then go home and shave the beard and go back to vote for the boss one more time. The Machine had corruption down to a science, but it served a purpose for immigrants who had no real voice in society and few means of having their basic needs met legitimately. Screen 12

6 The Irish copper Bain News Service. Policeman, Police Dogs, New York City Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Web. 9 May Narrator: While the bosses and their political machines were eventually put out of business during the reforms of the early 20th century, they brought the Irish into the mainstream of society by giving them access to such civil service jobs as the police force. In fact, so numerous were Irish policemen in large cities that the Irish brogue became the standard form of speech ascribed to policemen on stage and, eventually, in film. Access to such civil service jobs and the fast rise of Irishmen as supervisors in factories allowed the Irish to move from poor to working class, and then into the middle class in only a few generations. Screen 13 German immigration: Largest nationality in America besides English More than 5 million came in 19th century (more than from any other country) Push factors: Lack of farmland in Germany Unemployment for artisans due to industrialization Topley, William James. German Immigrants, Quebec City, Canada Wikimedia Commons. Web. 9 May Narrator: The road to middle-class life came much quicker for German Americans. More German immigrants came to America than from any other country except England; and, unlike their Irish counter-parts, Germans tended to arrive with both money and marketable skills. A large number of them were trained artisans who found it increasingly difficult to make a living in Germany due to the mass production of goods that came with industrialization. Another push factor was the shrinking amount of farmland available to Germany s large number of farmers. Screen 14

7 Land Management Information Center. Persons of German Ancestry (Per 1,000 Population) Minnesota Geospatial Information Office. Web. 9 May Narrator: Because they had money, German immigrants were able to venture beyond the over-crowded port cities of the East Coast and move west into Pennsylvania, Ohio, and, especially, to the vast open farmlands of the Midwest and upper Midwest where they benefited from cheap land and from the Homestead Act. They quickly became successful farmers and artisans within the ethnic enclaves they established in this part of the country. Today, the character of the Midwest is largely defined by Germans and German culture as evidenced by a few interesting facts. First, this area of the country is home to the largest number of natural blondes, and second, this is the hub of the German beer brewing industry home to Anheuser-Busch, Budweiser, Miller, Schlitz, Pabst, and many more. Screen 15 Four pictures appear one at a time during narrative: Picture 1: pretzels and beer Picture 2: a burger, a frankfurter, and a beer Picture 3: a kindergarten class, a child sitting on Santa s lap, and a poodle Picture 4: a woman working out, a Christmas tree, and a poodle Narrator: In fact, people of German ancestry are such a huge part of the American population that much of who we are is derived from German culture. This includes the words we use, the foods we eat, and our traditions. If you have ever visited a delicatessen or boiled noodles or attended kindergarten or petted a poodle; if you have worked out a gym, witnessed a blitz, decorated a Christmas tree, sat in Santa s lap, or watched Clydesdale horses during a Super Bowl commercial, you have experienced German culture in America. Screen 16 End of presentation