"Emigrants leaving Queenstown [Ireland] for New York," 1874

    This 1874 engraving shows men, women and children on a dock in Queenstown, Ireland preparing to board a ship that will take them to New York.
    Courtesy of Library of Congress, "Emigrants leaving Queenstown [Ireland] for New York," 1874

    Description

    This engraving from 1874 depicts a scene of the Irish preparing to embark on a ship headed to New York. The artist shows people of all classes of society and various levels of enthusiasm about the voyage. The 1874 scene shows that people continued to leave Ireland and immigrate to America after the potato famine.

    Source-Dependent Questions

    • How would you describe the expression on the face of the boy in the foreground of the image? Compare it with expressions on the faces of others in the image. Does anything else about the boy stand out to you?
    • Notice what the people in the image are carrying. How does this compare with what you might carry if you were moving to a new country?
    • Divide the image into sections and study each section individually. Does anything in the image give you evidence about why these people are immigrating? Why or why not?

    Citation Information 

    "Emigrants leaving Queenstown [Ireland] for New York," 1874. Courtesy of Library of Congress

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