Emigration and the Coffin Ships

Active learning helps students grasp the human scale of emigration during the Great Famine by engaging with real decisions, risks, and outcomes. When students sort push and pull factors or role-play a coffin ship journey, they move beyond abstract numbers to understand personal stories and systemic pressures that shaped Irish lives.

• 5th Year
• Echoes of the Past: Exploring Irish and World History
• 4 activities
• 30 min–50 min

Learning Objectives

1. Differentiate between the 'push' and 'pull' factors that motivated mass emigration from Ireland during the Great Famine.
2. Analyze how the experiences of Irish emigrants differed based on their chosen destination, such as North America versus Great Britain.
3. Explain the lasting impact of Famine-induced emigration on the formation and characteristics of the global Irish diaspora.
4. Evaluate the primary challenges and dangers faced by emigrants during the Atlantic voyage on coffin ships.

Concept Mapping

⏱ 30 min·Small Groups

Sorting Activity: Push and Pull Factors

Prepare cards listing factors like 'potato blight' or 'jobs in America'. In small groups, students sort them into push or pull categories and justify choices with evidence from readings. Groups share one example per category with the class.

Prepare & details

Differentiate between the 'push' and 'pull' factors that drove mass emigration from Ireland.

Facilitation Tip: For the debate, assign roles in advance so students prepare arguments based on economic, social, and health data from primary sources, ensuring focused and evidence-based discussions.

Setup: Tables with large paper, or wall space

Materials: Concept cards or sticky notes, Large paper, Markers, Example concept map

• Understand
• Analyze
• Create
• Self-Awareness
• Self-Management

Concept Mapping

⏱ 45 min·Small Groups

Role-Play: Coffin Ship Journey

Assign roles such as passenger, captain, or doctor. Students improvise scenes based on historical accounts of disease and rations, recording key challenges. Debrief in whole class to connect to push/pull factors.

Prepare & details

Analyze how the experiences of Irish emigrants varied based on their destination.

Setup: Tables with large paper, or wall space

Materials: Concept cards or sticky notes, Large paper, Markers, Example concept map

• Understand
• Analyze
• Create
• Self-Awareness
• Self-Management

Concept Mapping

⏱ 40 min·Small Groups

Mapping Exercise: Diaspora Routes

Provide blank maps of Ireland, UK, and North America. Small groups plot emigration paths, mark coffin ship wrecks, and note settlements using atlases and sources. Present findings to highlight destination differences.

Prepare & details

Explain how the Famine has profoundly shaped the Irish diaspora globally.

Setup: Tables with large paper, or wall space

Materials: Concept cards or sticky notes, Large paper, Markers, Example concept map

• Understand
• Analyze
• Create
• Self-Awareness
• Self-Management

Formal Debate

⏱ 50 min·Whole Class

Formal Debate: Destination Choices

Divide class into teams arguing for North America versus UK based on risks and opportunities. Teams prepare evidence, then debate in rounds. Vote and reflect on emigrant perspectives.

Prepare & details

Differentiate between the 'push' and 'pull' factors that drove mass emigration from Ireland.

Setup: Two teams facing each other, audience seating for the rest

Materials: Debate proposition card, Research brief for each side, Judging rubric for audience, Timer

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Self-Management
• Decision-Making

Teaching This Topic

Teachers should anchor this topic in primary sources to counter oversimplified narratives. Avoid framing emigration as a simple act of survival—highlight the agency of migrants in choosing destinations despite risks. Research shows that when students analyze survivor letters or ship manifests, they better understand the complexity of push and pull factors beyond hunger alone.

What to Expect

Successful learning looks like students confidently distinguishing push from pull factors, analyzing primary sources to identify hardships, and debating destination choices with evidence from maps and survivor accounts. Look for small-group discussions where students cite specific details to support their claims.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

During the Role-Play: Coffin Ship Journey, students may believe that all passengers died due to the ship’s conditions.

What to Teach Instead

Direct students to survivor letters or ship manifest excerpts distributed during the role-play to highlight that while mortality was high, many survived and rebuilt lives in new communities.

Assessment Ideas

Quick Check

After the Role-Play: Coffin Ship Journey, present students with a primary source excerpt describing conditions on a coffin ship. Ask them to identify two specific hardships mentioned and explain how these contributed to high death rates.

Extensions & Scaffolding

• Challenge students to research and present on a lesser-known destination (e.g., Canada, Australia) and compare its risks and opportunities to more familiar routes.
• Scaffolding: Provide a graphic organizer with blanks for push and pull factors during the sorting activity to guide students who need structure.
• Deeper exploration: Ask students to write a short diary entry from the perspective of a coffin ship passenger, incorporating hardships and personal hopes identified during the role-play.

Key Vocabulary

Push Factors	Reasons that compel people to leave their home country, such as famine, poverty, or political unrest.
Pull Factors	Reasons that attract people to a new country, such as job opportunities, land availability, or perceived freedoms.
Coffin Ships	Overcrowded and unsanitary vessels used to transport emigrants, often characterized by disease and high mortality rates.
Diaspora	A dispersion of people from their original homeland, often maintaining cultural connections to their place of origin.