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Episodes from "Historian's Craft," University of Alabama at Birmingham (Spring 2011): 1 through 10 of 23

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  1. The Irish March on Fredericksburg
    date December 11, 1862 to December 15, 1862map SPOTSYLVANIA, Virginiatags Irish Immigration, Civil War

    On the eve of battle, war cries echoed throughout the valleys surrounding Fredericksburg Virginia in Spotsylvania County. Among the nearly 200,000 men preparing to engage in battle, just under two thousand were Irish Americans. These men, new to the land, had been conscripted into service almost as soon as setting dry-foot upon US soil. Despite the Irish immingrants' recent arrival, they were more...

  2. Arsonists Target Catholic Convent in Massachusetts
    date August 12, 1834map SUFFOLK, Massachusettstags American Immigration, Catholicism, Irish

    In 1834, the growing unrest and instability between American natives and Irish immigrants was approaching the point of violence. In 1834, the Boston Evening Transcript reported an act of arson that broke the line between civil unrest - in the form of protest - and violence, when the Charlestown Convent was burned to the ground. Near eleven o’clock on 11 August, arsonists gave warning to the inhabitants...

  3. Safety Conditions in the Iron and Steel Industry
    date 1950 to 1971map Jefferson, Alabamatags Economy, Iron and Steel Industry, Industrial Safety Conditi

    “The foreman would let you know if it was safe. Because he said something was safe didn’t mean it was safe.” This is how Ulysses S. Anderson described the safety conditions at Sloss Furnace, a pig-iron producing blast furnace in Birmingham, Alabama. While being interviewed by the Sloss Furnace Association Anderson spent a great amount of time describing the safety conditions he encountered during...

  4. Flu Ravages Families in Birmingham
    date October 20, 1918map Jefferson, Alabamatags Medicine/Health, influenza

    Ms. Lucy Dickinson, writing for the Birmingham News in October 1918, sent out an urgent plea to the city for a foster mother. An infant had been brought to the Children's Hospital by neighbors who had been caring for him. The baby's parents were victims of the epidemic “Spanish” influenza and were being treated at the local infirmary. Dickinson explained that the two "big-hearted fellows” who...

  5. Fun Times During the 1918 Spanish Flu Epidemic
    date October 21, 1918map Jefferson, Alabamatags influenza, Medicine/Health

    On October 21,1918, Birmingham News staff writer Henry Vance told his readers “[i]t is much better to be interned than interred.” The Spanish influenza had reached Birmingham, and officials had advised citizens to stay inside to avoid infection. Each day Vance featured a new game idea suitable for families to play while they remained indoors. In number six of a series called “Indoor Sports For...

  6. Spanish Influenza Aspirin Scare
    date October, 1918 to 1918map Jefferson, Alabamatags Medicine/Health, epidemic, influenza

    In 1918 the American Bayer aspirin manufacturer ran an advertisement in the October 18, 1918 edition of the Birmingham News, assuring readers that “the manufacture of Bayer-Tablets and Capsules of Aspirin is completely under American control.” They wanted to assure readers that they were “being operated as a 100% American concern” and that the overseers of that operation were all “native...

  7. Suspected Mollies Murder in Broad Daylight
    date October 17, 1857 to February 24, 1877map COLUMBIA, Pennsylvaniatags Trial, Labor, Murder

    Alexander Rea was murdered on a Saturday morning on October 23, 1868 while on his way to the coal mine where he worked. He was shot six times at close range and $500 dollars was stolen from his body. The corpse was hidden in the bushes and was not discovered until the next day. Eleven years later three suspects were arrested and tried for the crime. Patrick Hester, Peter McHugh, and Patrick Tully, ...

  8. Infiltration of the Molly Maguires
    date 1873 to 1875map NORTHUMBERLAND, Pennsylvaniatags Mines, Labor Union

    In 1894 McClures Magazine published a piece by Cleveland Moffett on the infiltration and the eventual downfall of the Molly Maguires, a violent and secretive Irish labor union accused of terrorizing Pennslyvania coal country. The heroes of the piece were wealthy mine owner Frankilin B. Gowen and Pinkerton detective James McCparland both according to Mclure were instrumental in toppling the Molly Maguires...

  9. Turncoat at the Mollie Trials
    date September 3, 1875 to March 26, 1876map CARBON, Pennsylvaniatags Labor Union, Murder, Trial

    In 1876 the New York Times published an article describing the murder trial of John P. Jones , a mine boss of the Lehigh and Wilkesbarre Coal Company. It was widely believed that Jones murderers were members of the secretive and violent Irish labor union called the Molly Maguires. During this time stories of the Mollies murdering mine bosses that crossed the group were very common. A very interesting...

  10. The Irish Riot on Saint Patrick’s Day
    date March 17, 1867map NEW YORK, New Yorktags Irish Immigration, St. Patrick's Day

    Four leaf clovers adorned the street corners of New York City, soft bagpipes in the background-accompanied fiddles, and the whiskey flowed forth with a seemingly endless supply. The stereotypes of St. Patrick’s Day are numerous, and all derogatory towards the Irish immigrants who migrated to this land for a better life than the turmoil they were facing due to the Great Famine. These images are nowhere...

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