Immigration Storyboard Portfolio
Storyboard Description
Irish Immigration Storyboard by Jerimiah Rosal
Storyboard Text
- I'm Sean O'Connor and this is my home in Ireland. I'm just about on my way to America. Life in Ireland has been rough for quite some time and I am forced to go to America in search of a better life.
- Don't worry, everything will be ok, he'll be back before you know it.
- I will do everything I can to come back or send for you all, I promise.
- They never come back.
- How long do you think our journey will be?
- I have heard it could take us weeks, even months before we arrive.
- I feel sick and it seems Sheamus feels the same way.
- I hope we didn't catch one of those deadly diseases I've heard of people getting on these boats, I thought they were made up to scare us from leaving Ireland.
- The year is 1848 and I am 20 years old. My father has asked me to go to America and seek a better life. He is worried that we will all suffer the fate of many Irish before us. A fungus has created a potato famine here, killing many more of us. The poverty level is high in Ireland and it is now my job to seek a better life for my family.
- I can't believe we have finally arrived! I think it was just some sea sick we felt.
- I agree. I'm so tired and hungry, let us go find some place to eat and sleep.
- These are my parents Sean and Aoife O'Connor as well as my sister Grace. I must leave them and my home in Dublin to make a better life in America. I hope to send for them soon.
- zzz...
- Sheamus, are you sleeping already?
- In looking for how to get aboard a boat that was on its way to America, I came across another gentlemen that had an extra ticket and was looking for a replacement companion since his brother was too ill to travel. His name was Sheamus.
- That's great news! I can't wait to get word to my dad. I have noticed that we don't seem to be very welcomed here in America but it beats starving to death.
- They gave us the job working on the railroads! Isn't for very much and they don't seem to like our kind, but at least we're working.
- Starvation, dehydration and disease were common ways for many of the Irish to parish on their way to America. Feeling ill with the constant swaying of the boat made Sheamus and I scared that we had fallen ill to disease.
- Rebecca will call the midwife!
- Edith is having the baby! What do I do?
- Sheamus!
- We instantly started to feel better once we arrived in New York. Sheamus was feeling the effects of the journey and needed rest. We could not believe how many Irishmen were already in America.
- Sheamus and I didn't have much money but we had decided to stick together and put the little money we did have together. It wasn't very long before we found a family willing to rent out their cellar to us.
- The Irish here in America are not as welcomed as Sheamus and I had hoped but since we agreed to work for less money it wasn't to difficult to find work.
- Citations Include:https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/immigration/irish/irish-catholic-immigration-to-america/https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/immigration/irish/adaptation-and-assimilation/
- It has been ten years since Sheamus and I arrived in New York and we are now married to sisters Rebecca and Edith. With both of us sending money home for our families, we though it would be best to buy a home together.
- https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/immigration/irish/joining-the-workforce/https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/education-during-1860s
- It is now 1860 and our home that was once comfortable enough for Sheamus, myself and our wives is now crowded with children, our parents, siblings, their spouses and their children. Our parents stayed home with the children and the older kids are receiving their education at the local protestant church.
- Our sons became officers and daughters became teachers. It was wonderful watching our children move up occupationally. Sheamus and I continued to work hard for our families and were grateful to be alive to watch our family grow.
- Citations
- Citations
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