The Historian\ · 1st Year · The Age of Revolutions · Summer Term

Emigration: Leaving Ireland for a New Life

Students will understand that during the Famine and other times, many Irish people left Ireland to find new homes and opportunities in other countries.

• NCCA Curriculum Specifications
• NCCA: Primary Curriculum - Myself and the Wider World - Life in the 19th Century
• NCCA: Primary Curriculum - Myself and the Wider World - Exploring Local History

About This Topic

Emigration from Ireland, particularly during the Great Famine of 1845-1852, saw over a million people leave due to potato blight, widespread starvation, disease, and evictions by landlords. Students examine push factors like failed crops and poverty alongside pull factors such as job opportunities in America, Canada, Australia, and Britain. They also consider the perils of sea travel on crowded 'coffin ships,' where many died from typhus and malnutrition before reaching new shores.

This topic fits within the NCCA curriculum's focus on 19th-century life and local history, helping students connect personal family stories to national events. It develops skills in empathy, source analysis, and chronological understanding, as students trace migration patterns through maps, letters, and statistics from the era.

Active learning suits this topic well. When students role-play emigrant decisions or construct timelines with personal artifacts, they grasp the human cost and scale of emigration. Group mapping of destinations reveals global Irish influence, making distant history feel immediate and relevant.

Key Questions

1. Why did people leave Ireland during the Famine?
2. Where did Irish people go when they left?
3. What was it like to travel to a new country a long time ago?

Learning Objectives

• Analyze primary source documents, such as letters or diary entries, to identify the reasons Irish emigrants cited for leaving their homeland.
• Compare the living conditions and travel experiences of emigrants during the Famine with those of emigrants during other periods of Irish history.
• Explain the push and pull factors that influenced decisions to emigrate from Ireland to specific destinations like North America or Australia.
• Classify the challenges faced by Irish emigrants upon arrival in their new countries, categorizing them into social, economic, or cultural difficulties.
• Create a short narrative or visual representation depicting the journey of an Irish emigrant, incorporating details about their motivations and the hardships of travel.

Before You Start

Life in My Community

Why: Students need a basic understanding of community and daily life to compare it with the experiences of emigrants.

Basic Map Skills

Why: Students must be able to read and interpret maps to understand the destinations of emigrants.

Key Vocabulary

Famine	A severe shortage of food, often caused by crop failure or natural disaster, leading to widespread hunger and death. The Great Famine in Ireland (1845-1852) was caused by potato blight.
Emigration	The act of leaving one's own country to settle permanently in another. For Ireland, this often meant leaving to find better opportunities or escape hardship.
Push Factors	Reasons that compel people to leave their home country. For Ireland, these included poverty, starvation, disease, and evictions.
Pull Factors	Reasons that attract people to a new country. These might include job opportunities, land ownership, or political freedom.
Coffin Ships	A term used to describe the overcrowded and unsanitary vessels that transported Irish emigrants, many of whom died during the voyage due to disease and starvation.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

The Famine was only caused by potato blight.

What to Teach Instead

Many believe crop failure alone caused mass starvation, ignoring British export policies and landlord evictions. Active discussions with evidence cards help students weigh multiple factors. Group debates clarify how human decisions worsened natural disaster.

Common Misconception

Emigrants always found success abroad.

What to Teach Instead

Students often think destinations offered instant prosperity, overlooking discrimination and poverty in new lands. Role-plays of arrival scenarios build empathy. Mapping family stories reveals varied outcomes, correcting oversimplification.

Common Misconception

Travel to new countries was comfortable back then.

What to Teach Instead

Travel seems easy today, so coffin ship realities surprise students. Hands-on ship models with overcrowding simulations make conditions vivid. Peer sharing of diary entries reinforces the dangers of disease and storms.

Active Learning Ideas

Mapping Activity: Emigration Routes

Provide outline maps of Ireland and key destinations. Students mark routes in pairs, adding labels for push/pull factors and ship hardships using colored markers. Discuss findings as a class to highlight patterns.

45 min·Pairs

Role-Play: Famine Decisions

Assign roles like farmer, landlord, or emigrant family. Groups debate whether to stay or leave, using evidence cards on blight and evictions. Each group presents their choice and reasons to the class.

50 min·Small Groups

Timeline Build: Emigrant Journey

Students sequence events from Famine onset to arrival abroad using sticky notes on a class timeline. Add drawings of ships and letters. Review by walking the timeline and sharing insights.

40 min·Whole Class

Letter Writing: Emigrant Voices

Students write first-person letters home describing travel conditions, drawing from primary sources. Exchange letters in pairs for peer feedback before displaying on a 'coffin ship' wall.

35 min·Individual

Real-World Connections

• Many cities in North America, such as Boston, New York, and Toronto, have neighborhoods with strong Irish heritage, established by emigrants seeking new lives and work in the 19th century.
• The descendants of Irish emigrants can be found in professions across the globe, from politics and arts to science and business, reflecting the lasting impact of these historical migrations.
• Historical societies and museums, like the National Museum of Ireland or the Tenement Museum in New York, preserve artifacts and stories from emigrant journeys, offering tangible links to the past.

Assessment Ideas

Exit Ticket

Provide students with a card asking: 'List one push factor and one pull factor that might have caused someone to leave Ireland during the Famine. Then, name one country where Irish emigrants often settled.'

Discussion Prompt

Pose the question: 'Imagine you are an Irish person in the 1840s facing starvation. What would be the hardest part of deciding to leave your home and travel across the ocean? What would you hope to find?'

Quick Check

Show students a map of the world. Ask them to point to and name at least three countries where Irish emigrants settled. Then, ask them to briefly explain one reason why they might have gone there.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did Irish people emigrate during the Famine?

Potato blight destroyed the staple crop, leading to starvation for one million and disease for many more. Landlords evicted tenants unable to pay rent, while British policies continued food exports. Students explore these through letters and stats, understanding push factors like poverty drove mass exodus to America, Canada, and beyond.

How can active learning help teach Irish emigration?

Role-plays of emigrant choices and mapping routes engage students kinesthetically, making abstract hardships tangible. Group timelines with artifacts connect personal histories to events, fostering empathy. Collaborative debates on push/pull factors build critical thinking, as students defend decisions with evidence for deeper retention.

Where did most Irish emigrants go during the Famine?

Primary destinations were the United States (especially New York and Boston), Canada (Quebec and New Brunswick), Britain (Liverpool and Glasgow), and Australia. Over 1.5 million left between 1845-1855. Use maps and passenger lists in class to trace routes and discuss lasting Irish diaspora communities.

What was travel like for Famine emigrants?

Journeys on 'coffin ships' lasted 4-8 weeks in squalid conditions: overcrowding, poor food, typhus outbreaks killed up to 30%. Students analyze survivor accounts and ship diagrams to grasp risks. This builds source evaluation skills central to history curriculum.