Irish and German Immigration to American Cities.

By: Adam Bergman

Immigration to America

• The immigration led the Irish and German to New York .

• Immigrants settled in eastern towns and major port cities.

The Immigrants

• The boats that the immigrants sailed on were often called Coffin Ships

Coffin Ships

• Coffin Ships were crowed and full of disease with poor access to food and water, resulting in deaths of many people as they crossed the Atlantic

Irish Immigrants

Irish Immigration

• Many Irish fled to Boston• In one year, Boston’s Irish population jumped

from 30,000 to 100,000

Who They Were

• Most Irish were farmers who had lost crops in the Great Potato famine and had to search for a new way of living

How Many Came?

• Nearly 2,000,000 Irish migrated in the 1840’s • Most Irish migrated near Boston• 3.5 million Irish came. 1820-1880

Why They Came

• The Irish Famine made millions flee from Ireland in the late 1840’s and early 1850’s

The Irish Potato Famine

• Was a period of mass starvation in Ireland• About one million people died

Discrimination

• Employers would place signs with NINA written across the front. NINA stood for No Irish Need Apply, and would place these signs with the No Dogs allowed signs.

Prejudice

• The Irish did not face the prejudice in New York as they did in Boston

• Bostonians believed the Irish were a servant race

German Immigration

• German immigration was second only to the Irish in the 1830’s and 1840’s

• Then the Germans took the lead, making up over one-third of the total in the 1850’s and 1860’s

German immigration chart

German Immigration

• Came because they wanted religious freedom.• Others came because of political reasons.• There were crop failures in Germany.

Who They Were

• Most Germans were also farmers. Some were craftsman. Germans had a reputation for being hard working, loyal and thrifty.

How Many Came?

• 152,000 Germans migrated a year• Over half of them went to P.A.• 1/3 population of the state were Germans

New Jobs

• Upon arriving in America, many German men took jobs as plumbers and steamfitters

• German women worked as bakers, tailors, saloon keepers and hotel keepers