The Irish Famine of 1845-1852 (also known as the Great Hunger) was one of the most catastrophic famines in modern history. During these years, starvation and related diseases claimed as many as a million Irish lives, while perhaps 2.5 million Irish immigrated.
The famine deeply impacted the United States. The Irish accounted for more than half of all immigrants to the United States in the 1840s. According to the United States’ 2010 census, more than 34.7 million Americans considered themselves to be of Irish ancestry, making Irish-Americans the country's second-largest ethnic group.
There has been a wide array of recent scholarship on the Irish Famine, much of it focusing on the role that government policies played in the tragedy.
This new scholarship provides an excellent opportunity for educators to teach many critical lessons of that era to students. A rich multitude of sources from the famine - such as newspaper accounts, drawings, letters, poems and government reports - are available for examination and provide students with a compelling picture of life and death during the famine years.
Students benefit by learning the lessons of the Irish Famine, including the impact government policy can have during a natural disaster. Educators may encourage students to research modern famines, and the causes and effects of hunger in their own communities. Students may choose to volunteer on local, national or international anti-hunger campaigns. They can honor the memory of those who died in the famine while exploring ways to help stop similar tragedies from occurring.
Study of the Irish Famine is specifically referenced in the Illinois State Board of Education’s Social Sciences Mandates policy.
Sec. 27-20.6 notes that millions of Irish died or emigrated and that, “The study of this material is a reaffirmation of the commitment of free people of all nations to eradicate the causes of famine that exist in the modern world.”
Other states have mandated the teaching of the Irish Famine in public schools, and universities throughout the world have developed groundbreaking materials on the causes and effects of the famine.
The New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education approved a curriculum about The Great Irish Famine for use in secondary level schools on September 10th, 1996. The curriculum was updated by the Irish Famine Education Institute in Chicago, IL in 2014. You can view a copy of the curriculum in PDF format by clicking on the following link: The Great Irish Famine Curriculum.
The famine deeply impacted the United States. The Irish accounted for more than half of all immigrants to the United States in the 1840s. According to the United States’ 2010 census, more than 34.7 million Americans considered themselves to be of Irish ancestry, making Irish-Americans the country's second-largest ethnic group.
There has been a wide array of recent scholarship on the Irish Famine, much of it focusing on the role that government policies played in the tragedy.
This new scholarship provides an excellent opportunity for educators to teach many critical lessons of that era to students. A rich multitude of sources from the famine - such as newspaper accounts, drawings, letters, poems and government reports - are available for examination and provide students with a compelling picture of life and death during the famine years.
Students benefit by learning the lessons of the Irish Famine, including the impact government policy can have during a natural disaster. Educators may encourage students to research modern famines, and the causes and effects of hunger in their own communities. Students may choose to volunteer on local, national or international anti-hunger campaigns. They can honor the memory of those who died in the famine while exploring ways to help stop similar tragedies from occurring.
Study of the Irish Famine is specifically referenced in the Illinois State Board of Education’s Social Sciences Mandates policy.
Sec. 27-20.6 notes that millions of Irish died or emigrated and that, “The study of this material is a reaffirmation of the commitment of free people of all nations to eradicate the causes of famine that exist in the modern world.”
Other states have mandated the teaching of the Irish Famine in public schools, and universities throughout the world have developed groundbreaking materials on the causes and effects of the famine.
The New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education approved a curriculum about The Great Irish Famine for use in secondary level schools on September 10th, 1996. The curriculum was updated by the Irish Famine Education Institute in Chicago, IL in 2014. You can view a copy of the curriculum in PDF format by clicking on the following link: The Great Irish Famine Curriculum.
