About this episode

This episode explores the myths surrounding Irish immigration through the story of Bartholomew O’Donnell and features historian Tyler Anbinder discussing new research on the topic.

March 18, 1879. A crowd gathers around an indoor track in Brooklyn, NY, as an Irish immigrant named Bartholomew O’Donnell attempts a strange feat: walking 80 miles in 26 hours. Newspapers claim he’s eighty years old. Lap after lap, he circles the track: smoking a pipe, sipping hot tea, and pushing through the night. O’Donnell came to New York thirty years earlier, fleeing the Great Potato Famine. Like many Irish immigrants, he spent decades doing manual labor and trying to get ahead in a city that often viewed newcomers with suspicion. For generations, stories like his shaped how historians understood famine-era Irish immigrants. In this special live episode recorded at the Tenement Museum ahead of St. Patrick’s Day, Sally speaks with historian Tyler Anbinder, author of Plentiful Country: The Great Potato Famine and the Making of Irish New York, about what new research reveals about the lives of Irish immigrants in America, and what their story can tell us about immigration today. Get in touch: historythisweek@history.com Follow on Instagram: @historythisweekpodcast Follow on Facebook: ⁠HISTORY This Week Podcast⁠ To stay updated: http://historythisweekpodcast.com To learn more…

People in this episode

Host: Sally

Guest: Tyler Anbinder

Topics covered

• Irish immigration
• Great Potato Famine
• historical myths
• New York history
• immigrant experiences
• St. Patrick's Day

Keywords

• Irish immigrants
• Bartholomew O’Donnell
• New York
• history
• immigration
• famine
• Tyler Anbinder
• Tenement Museum
• St. Patrick's Day

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: HISTORY® Channel, Back Pocket Studios

Books & works: Plentiful Country: The Great Potato Famine and the Making of Irish New York

Places: Brooklyn, NY

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