2.7: The Irish Potato Famine

Before the Irish arrive in New Orleans, we explain why they left: religious discrimination, poverty and an apocalyptic potato famine.

In seven years, 1.5 million Irish die from starvation and disease. The British government's response is part malicious, part negligent. Two million Irish decide to go.

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The Great Famine: Ireland's Agony 1845–1852 by Ciarán Ó Murchadha

Rot: An Imperial History of the Irish Famine by Padraic X. Scanlan

The Irish in New Orleans, 1800–1860 by Earl F. Niehaus

The Irish in New Orleans by Laura D. Kelley

The Irish in the South, 1815–1877 by David T. Gleeson

https://64parishes.org/entry/irish-in-new-orleans

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