Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Americans as a nation have limited interest in history. Few now remember the sixties let alone the 19th century. We live in the now not the past, which has benefits and problems.
I'm so glad I enjoy history and my one son shares the passion..and not just our Irish history
. And trust me, 10 young men in their 20's and 30's did not die on a Hunger Strike in the 80's (and more in the 1910's) because they could no longer fight each other. They died for a very real purpose.
Yes, they did. They were Irish freedom fighters. My son is named for one of them (Patrick O'Hara) as well as for my own grandfather. I followed those 1981 hunger strikes very, very closely and was very emotionally involved. I still am, never will forget.
Their names:
. Bobby Sands, Francis Hughes, Raymond McCreesh, Patsy O'Hara, Joe McDonnell, Martin Hurson, Kevin Lynch, Tom McElwee, Kieran Doherty and Mickey Devine
And it may be off topic but one example of how bad the British treat the Irish Catholics in the Six Counties is how they beat Patsy O'Hara after he was dead.
I'm so glad I enjoy history and my one son shares the passion..and not just our Irish history
My eight year old son is writing a history paper for school and he came home excited to tell me the topic that he chose - The Easter Rising of 1916. I am very proud of him....have to wonder, though, what the public school thinks!
I imagine it's much cheaper to produce potatoes than catch fish. Potatoes were particularly a main food source for the poor.
Why such hostility towards the Irish?
As sad as the famine was, a great lesson was learned from it. There are nearly 50 types of potatos. Of which 20 can be grown in Ireland.Yet the Irish only planted 1 variety. Some varieties of potato are not affected by a blight that affects other types. So if you plant more than 1 variety you can still harvest the unaffected variety. The peoples of Chile and Argentina have known this for hundreds of years and although they have been affected by blight, their potato harvest has never been ruined completely. It is my opinion that Idaho may be in for thier own potato problem. The largest buyer of potatos in the USA is McDonalds and they insist on a certain type of potato because it "looks better." So most potato producers are only planting that type of potato. So if the right blight comes along and it affects that type of potato, OOPS!
As sad as the famine was, a great lesson was learned from it. There are nearly 50 types of potatos. Of which 20 can be grown in Ireland.Yet the Irish only planted 1 variety. Some varieties of potato are not affected by a blight that affects other types. So if you plant more than 1 variety you can still harvest the unaffected variety. The peoples of Chile and Argentina have known this for hundreds of years and although they have been affected by blight, their potato harvest has never been ruined completely. It is my opinion that Idaho may be in for thier own potato problem. The largest buyer of potatos in the USA is McDonalds and they insist on a certain type of potato because it "looks better." So most potato producers are only planting that type of potato. So if the right blight comes along and it affects that type of potato, OOPS!
There is no "OOPS" about it; the Irish were tenant farmers under the British thus they grew whatever they were allowed. You apparently have no understanding of how limited the Irish populace was under British rule.
There is no "OOPS" about it; the Irish were tenant farmers under the British thus they grew whatever they were allowed. You apparently have no understanding of how limited the Irish populace was under British rule.
The purpose of my post was not to place blame. Simply to point out that sometimes, even from the worst catastrophes, lessons can be learned. But if you want some tears for something that happened about 160 years ago. here you go. Feel better now?
The Irish owned no land and made few if any decisions on its use.
Actually prior to the English invasions that began as early as the 1300's, the Irish did indeed own land and sadly, many tenant farmers ended up working the land that once belonged to their families for generations as tenants.
The land was taken from them by the British.
Among many other things, the Penal Laws passed by the English in the 1600's prohibited Catholics from owning land which was the excuse given for Protestants to take the land, then let the Irish work it as tenant farmers.
Some of these things were repealed during the time of Daniel O'Connor - 1820's but the fall out from centuries of such repression are still alive and well in the Six Counties today.
More on the Penal Laws:
[CENTER]Taken from The British Empire in the Nineteenth Century (Chapter V.) by Edgar Sanderson (1898)[/CENTER]
[SIZE=2]Penal laws against the Roman Catholics—Restrictions upon Irish industries and trade— The Irish Parliament—Flood and Grattan—Convention of Dungannon—"Whiteboys" and "United Irishmen"—Formation of "Orange" lodges—Cruelties practised on the Roman Catholics—Irish rebellion of 1798—Act for union with Great Britain passed.[/SIZE]
For nearly a century after the last conquest of Ireland, under William the Third, that unhappy country was quiescent with the apathy of exhaustion, misery, and despair. In Elizabeth's reign the native Celts had been hunted like wild beasts: their faith had been proscribed; their lands had been largely confiscated. Great further land robberies were perpetrated in the days of James the First, his son Charles, Cromwell, and William the Third. In one quarter alone, Ulster, the Protestant "plantation" of Scottish and English settlers, formed by James the First, was there any real prosperity.
After the surrender of Limerick in 1691, the treaty which promised religious freedom to the Catholics was grossly violated, and they were made subject to the action of severe "penal laws", passed in the Irish parliament, an assembly composed of Protestant lords, and of members returned for boroughs controlled by the crown or by patrons or by close corporations, and for counties dominated in election affairs by great proprietors of land. Catholics were not permitted to keep school; to go beyond seas, or to send others thither, for education in the Romish religion. Intermarriage with Protestants was disallowed, in case of the possession of an estate in Ireland. Children of mixed marriages were always to be brought up in the Protestant faith.
A "Papist" could not be guardian to any child, nor hold land, nor possess arms. He could not hold a commission in the army or navy, or be a private soldier. No Catholic could hold any office of honour or emolument in the state, or be a member of any corporation, or vote for members of the Commons, or, if he were a peer, sit or vote in the Lords. Almost all these personal disabilities were equally enforced by law against any Protestant who married a Catholic wife. It was a felony, with transportation, to teach the Catholic religion, and treason, as a capital offence, to convert a Protestant to the Catholic faith. The legislation devised for the Irish Catholics in that evil time was described by Burke as "a machine as well fitted for the oppression, impoverishment, and degradation of a people, and the debasement in them of human nature itself, as ever proceeded from the perverted ingenuity of man".
The purpose of my post was not to place blame. Simply to point out that sometimes, even from the worst catastrophes, lessons can be learned. But if you want some tears for something that happened about 160 years ago. here you go. Feel better now?
No.
Those things happened to my ancestors, the stories and lessons have been handed down through each generation.
A saying in my family, from my Granny's grandfather - who with his father survived the Famine when the rest of the family did not - has always been,
"When things get too dear, we can all eat grass."
Meaning when prices are too high, eat grass and live because he and his father did. Most didn't.
It may be in the past but the past is the foundation for the present and to understand where you are going, you have to first know where you have been.
sea around ireland is not kind, rough waters and lack of ports make sea fishing for the poor risky stuff.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We live in the now not the past, which has benefits and problems.
