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Irish Immigrants in BaltimoreIntroduction
  In 1816, 6,000 Irish people immigrated to America. Within two years this number had doubled and would continue to grow. The greatest spike in the number of Irish who immigrated to America came when the Potato Famine devastated Ireland from 1845-1853. In 1846, 92,484 immigrated and by 1850 that number had grown to 206,041. It was certainly a dramatic increase from the figure just thirty years earlier. By the end of 1854, two million Irish had immigrated to America. This was nearly one quarter of the population of Ireland.
It was during this dramatic exodus that Baltimore experienced an increase in its Irish population. The Irish who came to Baltimore settled in the southwestern part of the city and most men went to work for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Women immigrants usually worked as domestics. Men went to work for the railroad because employment opportunities for Irish were scarce. Irish immigrants were mainly farmers and lacked the skills to work in businesses or crafts. Due to their lack of skilled labor, Irish immigrants faced a great deal of discrimination. They were viewed as inferior people. Irish immigrants had to live in crowded and subdivided homes. These were tiny cramped spaces. Many immigrants were simply unable to afford better housing. However, even the low wages in the United States were five times more than the eight pence a day that a farmer in Ireland earned. Baltimore became the third most common point of entry for European immigrants, behind New York and Boston. In 1867, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad entered into a partnership with the North German Lloy Stemship Line to build immigration piers at Locust Point. The ships landing at Locust Point would drop off German, Irish and English immigrants. From there, immigrants could immediately go and work for the railroad or board a train and continue westward. The Irish experience in Baltimore was one of hardship and challenge. By examining images and primary source materials, students can get a first-hand account of what the immigrant experience was; both in Ireland and in America. The students can also learn about the specific experiences of the Irish immigrants who came to Baltimore. Source: Extracted from The Irish Shrine at Lemmon Street; Baltimore City Historical Society; Library of Congress-Irish Immigration; Marist College-The Irish in the Hudson Valley National History Standards
Materials compiled in this document can be used by educators to fulfill the following National History Standards for Grades K-4: Topic 2: The History of the Students’ Own State or Region
Standard 3: The People, Events, Problems, and Ideas that Created the History of Their State.
Standard 3C: The student understands the various other groups from regions throughout the world who came into the his or her own state or region over the long-ago and recent past.
K-4: Examine photographs and pictures of people from the various racial and ethnic groups of varying socioeconomic status who lived in the state 100-200 years ago in order to hypothesize about their lives, feelings, plans, and dreams, and to compare ways in which their experiences were similar and different. [Formulate historical questions]
3-4: Examine newspaper and magazine accounts and construct interview questions for a written, telephone, or in-person interview with a recent immigrant in order to discover why they came, what their life was like, and to describe some of the experiences that they have had in adjusting to the state or region. [Obtain historical data]
3-4: Describe the problems, including prejudice and intolerance, as well as the opportunities that various groups who have lived in their state or region have experienced in housing, the workplace, and the community. [Appreciate historical perspectives]
Materials compiled in this document can be used by educators to fulfill the following National History Standards for Grades 5-12: Era 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
Standard 2: How the industrial revolution, increasing immigration, the rapid expansion of slavery, and the westward movement changed the lives of Americans and led toward regional tension.
Standard 2C: The student understands how antebellum immigration changed American society.
5-12: Analyze the push-pull factors which led to increased immigration, for the first time China but especially from Ireland and Germany. [Analyze cause-and-effect relationships]
Primary Resources
DESCRIPTION: Illustration, Interior of a Small Farmer’s Cabin in Ireland
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: Feb 7, 1846
NOTES: This illustration shows how poor and destitute many of the Irish farmers were. Published in The Pictorial Times: A Weekly Journal of News, Literature, Fine Art, and the Drama (London)
SOURCE: Views of the Famine DESCRIPTION: Photograph, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad-Cumberland
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1857
NOTES: Irish immigrants helped to build the B&O Railroad. This gives an example of what Irish labor created.
REPRODUCTIONS: Image reproduction and permission
SOURCE: Maryland Memory Projects
REPOSITORY: Maryland Historical Society DESCRIPTION: Map, Irish-Ratio to Total Population
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: New York, C. Scribner's sons [c. 1883]
NOTES: Published in Scribner's statistical atlas of the United States, showing by graphic methods their present condition and their political, social and industrial development by Fletcher W. Hewes and Henry Gannett.... Map shows that Maryland ranked 26th out of 47th for the highest ratio of Irish to the total population.
REPRODUCTIONS: How to Order Reproductions
COPYRIGHT: Copyright and Other Restrictions
SOURCE: American Memory: Map Collections 1500-2004
REPOSITORY: Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Washington, D.C DESCRIPTION: Cartoon, “Here and There; or Emigration, A Remedy”
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: July 15, 1848
NOTES: This cartoon depicts two families, one in Ireland that is very poor. The other family has emigrated and is enjoying a happy, more prosperous life. Published in Punch (London).
SOURCE: Views of the Famine DESCRIPTION: Cartoon, People on steamship carrying "Poor house from Galway"
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: April 28, 1883
NOTES: Illustration in Harper's Weekly v. 27, 1883 April 28, p. 272.
REPRODUCTIONS: How to obtain copies of this item
COPYRIGHT: Rights and Reproductions
REPOSITORY: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, DC DESCRIPTION: Illustration, Irish Immigrants fleeing the Famine
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: February 28, 1880
NOTES: Woman, on shore of Ireland, holding up a sign for help to American ships; her foot rests on rock inscribed "we are starving". Family huddled behind her. Illustration in Harper's Weekly 1880 Feb. 28, p. 129.
REPRODUCTIONS: How to obtain copies of this item
COPYRIGHT: Rights and Restrictions
REPOSITORY: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, DC DESCRIPTION: Illustration, An Irish dwelling in New York in the 1850s
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1850s
NOTES: This illustration can be compared to the illustration of the poor farmer’s cabin in Ireland. Published in New York Illustrated News (New York)
SOURCE: Views of the Famine DESCRIPTION: Photograph, Immigration Pier, Locust Point
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: Unknown
NOTES: Photograph of a ship filled with immigrants coming to Locust Point.
REPRODUCTIONS: Image reproduction and permission
SOURCE: Maryland Memory Projects
REPOSITORY: Maryland Historical Society Additional Media Resources
Irish Immigration into Maryland during the Colonial and Antebellum Eras Irish Immigrants in America during the 19th Century Irish Immigration Immigration: The Journey to America Views of the Famine The Irish Potato Famine Additional Instructional Resources
The Great Irish Famine Curriculum Irish Immigration Irish Immigrant Families in Mid-Late 19th Century America Contribution of Immigrants Who Was Here? The Great Irish Famine: Emigration Baltimore as a Port of Entry The Irish in America (Part 1). From A&E Classrooms. The Irish in America (Part 2). From A&E Classrooms. The Potato Famine in Ireland. Secondary Resources
Diner, Hasia R. Erin’s Daughters in America: Irish Immigrant Women in the Nineteenth Century. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983. Mason, Matthew E. "The Hands Here are Disposed to be Turbulent: Unrest Among the Irish Trackmen of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 1829-1851." Labor History 1998 39(3): 253-272. O’Brien, Michael. The Irish in America. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1965.
O’Grada, Cormac. The Great Irish Famine. Dublin: MacMillan, 1989. McKenna, Erin. A Student's Guide to Irish American Genealogy. Phoenix: Oryx Press, 1996. Stolarik, M. Mark. Forgotten Doors: The Other Ports of Entry to the United States. Philadelphia: The Balch Institute Press, 1988. Woodham-Smith, Cecil. The Great Hunger: Ireland 1845-1849. New York: Penguin, 1964.
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The use of any user name and password to access materials on this web site constitutes an agreement by the user to abide by any and all copyright restrictions and is an acknowledgement that these materials will be used for personal and educational use only. In most instances, the username aaco and password aaco# will work. Contact ref@mdsa.net if you have any questions or have difficulty accessing files. CreditsTeaching American History in Maryland is a collaborative partnership of the Maryland State Archives and the Center for History Education (CHE), University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), and the following sponsoring school systems: Anne Arundel County Public Schools, Baltimore City Public School System, Baltimore County Public Schools, and Howard County Public Schools. Other program partners include the Martha Ross Center for Oral History, Maryland Historical Society, State Library Resource Center/Enoch Pratt Free Library, with assistance from the National Archives and Records Administration and the Library of Congress. The program is funded through grants from the U.S. Department of Education. This document packet was researched and developed by Katie Duncan. Updated by Nancy Bramucci, 2/24/2009. |
