Irish Immigration
...find, and various diseases reeked havoc on immigrants. Somehow, most people managed to scrape by. Many of the people who immigrated came desperate for any type of work. For this reason, they were hired to the worst jobs available, and were paid the minimum amount possible. People had to work in coal mines, factories, and on the rail roads for mere cents per day. Poor houses were overwhelmed, and soup kitchens could not feed the hungry. Typhus and cholera plagued groups of people, killing many. All types of people came over during this period of immigration. Men, women, and children alike were all eager to get here. Most were un-married, and poor. The majority of the people who came were women and children. Most mothers were single, with many kids, and no way of supporting them. Orphaned children would walk the streets, starving to death. For the most part, Boston was the first place an immigrant would set foot on American soil. From there it was just a matter of how much money you had, which was usually very little, and how much you were willing to spend on travel rather than food, shelter, and other necessities. The eastern seaboard was where the majority of immigrants tended to stay. Areas in or around New England had larger populations of Irish than in most other parts of the country. Main reasons for this concentration of Irish in New England, is due to the amount of jobs that opened up in this area. In the workforce, though, is where a lot of discrimination came to the Irish people. Signs were posted at some places saying “NO IRISH NEED APPLY.” The Irish were considered worse than slaves. Women took jobs as chambermaids, cooks, and caretakers of children, all of which were slave duties in that time. A common sentiment was “Let Negroes be servants, and if not Negroes let Irishmen fill their places.” (Kinsella 1) This discrimination ...