Moments in Time: Famine to Freedom: The Great Irish Journey

Blends history, archaeology, and vivid reenactments to recount one of the bleakest periods in Irish history. In nineteenth-century Ireland, millions of Irish farmers and their families subsist on their miracle crop, the potato. But when a devastating pestilence wipes out the country's potato crop, more than one million people die of starvation and another one million are forced to take their chances in a new land, America. The program considers how the potato famine influenced Ireland's battle for independence against Great Britain, as well as investigates clues of the famine's impact in an archaeological dig in rural Ireland. An interview with Senator Ted Kennedy considers the role of Irish immigrants in American society.

  Curriculum Standards

Grades: 9-12   |   Copyright: 2003