Out of Ireland

Out of Ireland traces the story of flight from the famine-swept villages of 19th century Ireland to the industrialized cities of 20th century America. The program personalizes this transatlantic journey by focusing on the lives of eight specific immigrants, utilizing letters they wrote home to Ireland describing their experiences in the New World.


In Ireland, the story is of a people yearning for change even as they clung desperately to ancient traditions. In America, the story is of policemen and maids, priests and politicians, rogues, wanderers, and victims of discrimination, bemoaning their forced departure from the Old World even as they reaped the benefits of the New World.


The mid-19th century famine in Ireland set the stage for one of the first big waves of European immigrants to America. They tested and profoundly changed America's notion of itself. As Walt Whitman would say, America had become a "nation of nations." Out Of Ireland, therefore, is about all Americans and the profound historical and psychological consequences which are our heritage as a nation of immigrants.