An+Irish+Immigrant

Name: Grace Finnigan Age: 20 (in 1850) Gender: female Occupation: mill worker. If in politics, what was your occupation prior to that: Social Class: low. irish immigrants did not successfully integrate themselves into American culture before the mid 1900's. Financial Situation: not wealthy. Appearance: sandy haired. Location: Lowell, MA ---> Boston, MA (1854) Daily Routine: wake up at 4am, run to the mill, work at the mill 'till 10pm, return home, sleep. Personality/Quirks/Unique Personality Traits: Past/Individual and family history: Family: Social relations with others: employee of Biff McGee Religion: Catholic Education: literate, but not extensively educated. can read and write. Conflicts/Enemies:


 * The time frame is sometime during the year 1850. Consider all of the things that have taken place during the previous five years (Mexican-American War, Mexican Cession, Wilmot Proviso, Compromise of 1850, Fugitive Slave Act). You are free to write about any one (or more) of these things in your journal entry. Be sure to include your actions in response to one (or more) of these events.**

I write this in haste, as we are not often given breaks, here at the mill. These protestant overseers seem to have no qualms about overworking us so. All day we work in squalid conditions- the water pump has yet to be fixed, lint floats in the air and into our lungs freely, the constant humming of machines gives one a headache, and new ventilation fans have been forgotten in favor of better machine parts. we are paid not nearly enough to make up for such terrible conditions. nor are we given any benefits for the hard work we do. it's a hard life, but one preferable to unemployment or the labor gangs. only yesterday, some of the other men returned to the slums- coated in mud and nursing aches and sores- they had just finished laying tracks for a new sections of the railroad.

It makes no sense for these same people who object slavery to be so cruel to immigrants. 'Job opening- Irish need not apply' 'hiring-no irish', do they not see the inherent hypocrisy? What is the use of all this abolitionist talk, if they dont plan to treat everyone equally? Are slaves so much more unfortunate than us? all these new laws i hear the mill owners talking about- the tallmadge ammendment and the wilmot proviso and this ‘great compromise of 1850’- what use are they? so they wont allow slavery in the new states. what use is that to me? whereever i go i will be discriminated against because im irish. because i “take jobs from americans”. because im not ‘american enough’. Americans- i will never understand them. --
 * The year is now 1852. Continue your story as you began in Journal #1. For this journal entry and all subsequent entries, you must interact with at least two other characters in each journal entry. When you interact with another character, provide a hyperlink to that character's page in your journal entry.

The year is 1852, and i write with exciting news. In the past year there had been an increase in the number of dissatisfied workers. Having snuck into the factory's library once or twice, the few of us who were literate learned of a 'Sarah Bagley' who had founded a women's labor reform association in Lowell-nearly 10 years ago. Using her methods of protest, we were able to attain better wages for ourselves. Now i earn $12 per 60 hour work week, instead of the previous 9. Though it is not much of an improvement, i hope that it will contribute greatly to my savings. I dream of moving to Boston, where i hear there is a greater concentration of immigrants such as myself- and where there is consequently less job discrimination. I should like to be a laundress or perhaps a seamstress- really, anything would break the monotony of working a spinning mule day in and day out.

The debates revolving around slavery continue. I do not see how these people can be so dense. They pay pitiful sums of money to their workers, but they will argue for the rights of the enslaved. I feel enslaved myself- and yet nobody is fighting for immigrant rights. Nobody that i know of, at least. But with all this talk from people like John Brown demanding that africans be freed, i cannot help but worry. If the africans are freed, will that mean they will start taking factory jobs? or will they continue to work for their ex-masters, for wages? Ive hear other mill girls tell of southern plantation owners such as Lawrence Ethel who own hundreds of slaves. What will happen if all these slaves are freed? I worry that such a sudden release of slaves may endanger my own job. Whats to say the mill owners wont hire africans because they will work for cheaper than us immigrants?

http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/soc/labor.html http://www.lucyparsonsproject.org/iww/kornbluh_bread_roses.html http://library.thinkquest.org/20619/Irish.html **

I write this a few days after the passing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Though i do not fully understand the details of it, i think it means that the people in each state will vote to determine whether to allow slavery. All of Boston was in an uproar at the news, which made it quite difficult to find a new landlord. I had been saving up for 4 years to move to Boston, and a week ago i finally arrived in the city. I immediately searched for work, and was fortunate enough to be hired by a Mr. Biff McGee - though his involvement with the methodists is off-putting, i am nevertheless grateful to have been hired. I am slightly worried though, because the girls and I (at Lowell) would always gossip about methodists and how they were abolitionists but still racists, and how they tended to treat women poorly. Though, // his mill is a stark contrast to the horrible conditions at Lowell, so i have little to complain about.
 * It's 1854... the Kansas-Nebraska Act has passed. Squatters are now moving into Kansas in an attempt to sway the vote. Continue your story...**

Upon moving to Boston i was able to find a discarded newspaper left around the factory gates. In it, an article by Emerson caught my attention. It spoke of raising the individual about society's restrictions, and of the integrity of the individual. I believe he has motivated me to make the most of my life- not to succumb to societal restrictions, and to make an earnest effort to overcome the barriers that prevent immigrants from improving their social standing. More and more talk of labor unions and workers rights have been surfacing- perhaps i shall attend their next meeting?

//**

// **It's now 1856. Bleeding Kansas has just taken place and John Brown emerged on to the scene. Buchanan was just elected as the US President. Dred Scott is arrested and is about to be brought to trial. Continue your story.**


 * i fear i shall not have time for this diary any longer. For truly, i can see no point of writing in it when such monumental events are occurring. Ive heard disturbing stories of an abolitionist man- James Brown? oh! John Brown - who has been causing an uproar all across the nation, with his radical ideas and actions. Could you believe the nerve of him; killing innocents in the name of abolition? I dread to get caught up in the 'great slavery debate' that has been sweeping the nation in recent years. It seems all one can do to go anywhere without hearing muttered discussions of who said what and who supports who and who is a "secret" abolitionist- quite a scandal. The factory masters seem to have it worst of all- they openly lament the election of President John Buchanan . All i can understand of the conflict is that he is a southerner, and that someone makes him a threat to "the northern culture and livelihood". Should i be worried as well? If the factory masters suffer a blow to their livelihood, it is us mill girls who will feel it harshest of all..

On a more personal note, i have recently fallen victim to this "anti immigrant" ideology that seems to be infiltrating the city. I was just on my way to attending a labor union meeting (without the masters' knowledge, of course.), but when i arrived at the meeting place it had been trashed and left to ruins. Tables had been overturned and papers spilled out of broken drawers. Chairs were piled haphazardly around the windows, and it seemed like there had been a great struggle to keep people out. I was greatly frightened that whoever was responsible for the destruction would return, so i hurried back home and did not speak of the event. Mill gossip has it that the union was attacked by a small group of the 'know nothing' party. With such a curious name, i began to inquire as to the nature of this party, only to discover a shocking truth. The know nothing party is an anti-immigrant, "nativist" party- bent on prolonging the period of naturalization for as long as possible, and staunch in their belief that us german and irish immigrants are "ethnically inferior to those of anglo-saxon heritage". Mr. McGee does not seem to be a "know-nothinger" for which i am grateful. Still, i will stay away from the labor union now, and do my best to avoid all forms of politics- truly, they are a dangerous 'sport'. **//

** Has it really been 4 years since my last entry? i seem to write one with each new election that occurs, as i can see my last journal marks the year of president Buchanan's election. We have moved on the the Lincoln administration, which in my opinion, is off to a bad start. One does not have to be a member of congress to know that a state distancing itself from the union (i think 'seceding' was the term they used in the paper), will cause dramatic changes. Will the united states of america cease to exist? Will we all become separate states? so many questions, all raised by the actions of the South.
 * The year is 1860. Lincoln was just elected as US President, prompting South Carolina to secede. Write the next chapter in your story.

With the wages i have been saving up, i recently bought a copy of Harriet Beecher Stowe 's __Uncle Tom's Cabin.__ I hope that by reading this i will be able to gain some insight into the slavery debate that has consumed this nation. Perhaps if i understand what the many sides to this issue are, i will be able to relate better to the conflict. I fear that whatever stance I take, i will have no choice but to become involved in this conflict. If so, it would be wiser to be informed than to suffer in ignorance. I am surprised though, that the book was written by a white woman. With the state of America, right now, i am always surprised when someone who isnt a white male accomplishes anything. Maybe i have spent too long restricted by the confines of immigrant prejudice. I hear the book is especially good though, and that it does a wonderful job of relating to female sympathy. Maybe this touch of emotion will be what i need to finally understand the politics of the "national slavery debate".