The American Melting Pot

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The American Melting Pot
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Irish Immigration

• The Great Potato Famine lasted from 1845 to 1852.
• This famine is what caused there to be so many
  Irish immigrants in our country.
• Between 1820 and 1860 over 2/3 of the American
  Immigrant population consisted of Irish people.
• But in the 1840s over half of the American
  immigrant population were Irish people.

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Traditions

• Halloween is one tradition that the Irish
  immigrants brought to our country.
• St. Patrick's Day is another one of the many
  traditions the Irish immigrants brought to
  America.
• In Ireland Halloween is called All Hallows Eve or
  All Saints Day.
• St. Patricks Day is called by its name because
  it is a day to honor the saint who taught the
  Irish not be so superstitious and that God was
  not a superstition.

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How we Celebrate!

• The Chicago river is dyed green every year on St.
  Patricks Day.
• They have a parade and nominate a parade queen.

Julie Popp 2009 Queen
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Irish People You May know

• John F. Kennedy
• Mother Jones
• George M. Cohan
• James Braddock
• Michael J. McGivney
• James Michael Curley
• Victor Herbert
• Eugene O'Neill
• Ed Sullivan

JFK
Ed Sullivan
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Why are these things important?

• If Irish immigrants hadnt come to our country we
  wouldnt celebrate St. Patricks Day or
  Halloween.
• Its important to know why we have holidays and
  to know where the traditions for them come from.
• Ireland is not the only country that some of our
  traditions and holidays come from.
• Mexico, Russia, China, and Italy are all a few
  examples of countries where we get food,
  holidays, and traditions from.

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Examples

• For example we wouldnt have all the potato
  dishes we have now if Irish immigrants hadnt
  come to our country.
• We wouldnt have tacos if we didnt have Mexican
  immigrants.
• We also wouldnt have pizza if we didnt have
  Italian immigrants.

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Our Point

• We want people to understand that some things we
  do in our daily lives come from different
  cultures. And also learn to respect the people
  of these different cultures.
• Our countrys traditions and its culture is made
  up of the traditions and cultures of different
  countries.
• Some people say that America is like a big
  melting pot.
• Meaning that our countrys traditions and culture
  come from different countries.
• Our countrys melting pot has different people of
  different races and cultures, but when they are
  melted together they form the traditions of our
  country. And Ireland is but one of them.