Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Learning Through History - Irish Potato Famine 1840s

LearningThroughHistory.com Learning Through History News - March 2011
In This Issue: March 2011 

•   The Irish Potato Famine (Renaissance to Revolutions)
•   Follow Learning Through History on Facebook and Twitter
•   Nory Ryan's Song (Recommended Resource)
•   20% off Blank Timeline Templates (AD)
•   The Hanging Gale (Netflix Alert)

The Irish Potato Famine (Renaissance to Revolutions)
The potato – a New World plant – was brought back to Europe in the sixteenth century and slowly became a staple crop. By the nineteenth century, millions of Irishmen depended on the potato for food and trade. In 1845, a fungus-like blight spread throughout Ireland, leaving crops rotting in the fields. This destruction of a primary food source triggered what is known as the Irish Potato Famine.

Between 1845 and 1850, Ireland’s population declined by about two million people, somewhere between 20-25% of its total according to estimates. A million Irish died of starvation as crop after crop failed and an equal number left the country in search of food, work and a better life. Close to a million Irish emigrated to the United States, settling in northeastern cities such as New York and Boston. This large influx of Irish immigrants – more than 40% of the foreign-born population in 1850 - seemed overwhelming to many Americans and anti-immigration sentiments could be seen in signs that said “Irish Need Not Apply.”

In this mini unit, read the history of the Irish Potato Famine, learn what today’s scientists have recently uncovered about the fungus that caused the potato blight, examine the famine in pictures, read an eyewitness account, see a timeline of events related to the famine, examine a timeline of events during the time period and participate in a unit study on Irish immigration to the United States.
Nory Ryan's Song (Recommended Resource)
From the first scene on a cliff's edge, the characters in Giff's latest novel balance perilously between survival and loss. Set on the west coast of Ireland during the great famine, the story belongs to 12-year-old Nory, who lives with her grandfather, two sisters, and a small brother in a tiny, earthen-floor home.

The finely paced novel balances the physical and emotional horrors of famine--described in visceral detail--with Nory's courage and intelligence, the love she has for her family, and her close friendship with Sean, a local boy. No notes are provided, so children with some basic historical background will glean the most from the story. But Giff brings the landscape and the cultural particulars of the era vividly to life and creates in Nory a heroine to cheer for. A beautiful, heart-wrenching novel that makes a devastating event understandable. (ALA Review)

Author: Patricia Reilly Giff
Amazon Price: $6.99
The Hanging Gale (Netflix Alert)
In this historical miniseries created for BBC Northern Ireland, four brothers struggle to survive during the Irish potato famine of the 1840s while facing persecution from an agent of their indifferent English landlord.

Looking on in horror as their primary food source dwindles, the Phelan brothers (portrayed by real-life siblings Joe, Mark, Paul and Stephen McGann) are torn between nonviolent protest and bloody revolt.

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