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Irish Americans Kelli Lorenc ETH/125 November 14, 2100 ANNETTE GUNTER
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Irish Americans
In 1845 the potato rot took over and destroyed the lands for more than 5 years I lost so many friends and family members to starvation I felt forced to migrate to the Americas so that I could have a chance to live. I left behind the home I grew up in the farms I plowed t he live I loved and cherished for the promise of a better future. I traveled across the A tlantic ocean for three months we were cramped into a small room below deck that was f illed with around 900 people little food was available and when we did eat the food wasnt cooked all the way thru the rise was hard and there were bugs in the bread many around me died while crossing the Atlantic ocean because of disease carried by the flees and lice aboard the ship. I remember their being a small hatch above us that would bring in the cool ocean breeze and sun light but when it stormed it had to be closed. The conditions were un sanitary feces in bucket in the corners of the room and the strong stench of sickness around me the fear that I would not survive this trip to America, they told us we would be landing soon at a port in New Yorks I was overwhelmed with joy and relived that my journey across the Atlantic was coming to an end and I was not riddled with sickness like so many around. I was also saddened because as we departed off the ship only a few hundred of us survived so many of my friends were no longer with me. When we landed in New York we were not welcomed. We were segregated and unwanted because of our speech our religion the way we looked and dressed we were looked at as dirty, lazily and uneducated. With little money and knowing no one in the great country I was forced to stay in New York Trying to find work which was nearly impossible business had put up signs that stated No Irish Need Apply. It was devastating I lived in a small shack outside the city because the Irish were looked on as bad for the neighbor hoods. I t hought my hunger problems would be solved if I came here but I was still hungry most t of ime with the lack of work offered to the Irish. The conditions here were no different than where I came from. There was so much disease and famine around me and health care not being offered to the Irish, so many died around me. I n 1852 I finally thought I was going to receive a break and be able to make a good l iving the railroads were offering good work and good pay but when only Irish applied they d ropped the pay to fifty- five cents a day I watched my friends and family become outraged and protest against it but the Irish failed at their attempt the militia was brought in and
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we were forced to work for the pay they offered. I only continued to work for this pay because no one else would hire me. We stuck together we worked hard we prayed we were joyful but when other would come to us calls us names or tell us to leave their establishment I saw so many of my fellow f riend become violent. The Irish around me began forming gangs in a way to stay safe and secure. Others left their beliefs and religion behind changed their names so they could find work and live outside of poverty. I choose to stay behind and help my fellow Irish to build small communities around the site we worked. We began to build a governmental machinery and personnel necessary to run it. We got a foothold finally and we began to strive and many of the Irish began to get jobs and move up within the companies. I chose to buy a small plot of land and do what I did best I went back to what my parents had taught me farming my passion. I have struggled for so many years but I stayed true to myself and my beliefs prayed every single day for a better life. My prayers had finally played off. I started in Ireland with black rot and death around me to ship that had despised and death. When reaching America I was segregated and forced to work at low wages and live in filth to being accepted and having stability with a real life and promise of prosperity. It was a long road but I am thankful for the things I had to go thru, they gave me a great deal of respect and appreciation for what I have come to be and where I am at.