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Why I moved
My family had been suffering in poverty, like the rest of Ireland. My family was farmers, living on someone elses land, but the land hadn't grown anything good enough to support us, and our rent had been growing. We decided that we should move somewhere that had better jobs for us, and that was America. -
Period: to
Immigration
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Worst social class
We the Irish were always at the bottom of the social ladder. Because of this we had to work twice as hard as American--born citizens, but get a lesser pay. Most Irish- immigrants lived in worse naighboorhoods than others, with dirty roads and distgusting apartments. -
Stereotypes
When we first arrived in America, many people were being rude to us the irish, saying that all of us were rude, drunk, brutish, and stupid. It was hard to get jobs and somewhere to live for the time being because there were signs saying "No irish need apply," and, "No irish premitted here." -
Found jobs
When we found places to work at, they were normally for unskilled people, like as a servant, nanny, in mills or factories, to build roads and also building railroads.Both my father and brother worked in factories, but they often got injuries and sicknesses. Their pay was very low. -
Democratic machines
After three years of living here in America, we were still in poverty and struggling with our money. I never heard of democratic machines before a month ago, but once I learned about i was amazed. When someone running a campaign needed more votes, they asked poorer classes to have theirs, in exchange of food, money, and legal help. My family and I did this a few times before the government put a stop to it. -
Moving to California
**We first heard about the gold rush through our friends, how everyday- people struck gold and become instantly rich. Like always, we were near poverty and despreate for money. As a family, we chose to move to California and search for gold. -
Unfair taxes
Once we reached California and settled in our new home, we learned that there was a 20 dollar tax for non- American born citizens. Along with the tax, my father caught lung cancer from breathing in all the dust and is now home, away from the mining while my two brothers are there. -
Still going on
After many months of mining, we had only gotten gold dust, while the people around us have moved to different states where gold is everywhere. My family and I are still staying here though, in California. My father has recovered from lung cancer but still has some symptoms of it. -
the end of our struggle
After living here in america for six years, we finally earned enough money that can support us throughout our lives by gold mining. Also, throughout the past few years, the American-born citizens got used to us immigrants and are now treating us much better than before. The downside of this is that my brother and a few other miners were in an explosion and had his leg amputated, which has happened to many more in the past.
