Irish Immigration will be used to learn about immigration (1850s to early 1900s) through
the lens of the visual image. This unit will focus on how artists and photographers, both English and American, used the visual image to influence the popular opinion of the Irish immigrants and other immigrant groups.
Students will develop a better understanding of why the Irish left Ireland, and about how the Irish were often viewed as being less than human, in their own country by the British, and also here in America. This focus will give students a better understanding of why the political cartoons and other visual images would have been so effective in their ability to convey political opinions and cultural/social biases in the form of visual information. The unit will also cover what life was like in Ireland during the famine and what life was like for the immigrant here in America. The unit will span a time period from approximately 1850 to 1900, taking students from the time the immigrants leave Ireland to their arrival in the US thru to the beginnings of success as US citizens. The unit will combine Visual Arts, History and Technology.
