“…I am glad to here of yourself getting your health so well and of your father and mother being satisfied with their journey I think they went in a good time for the like of this kingdom at the present is not to be found I believe there is neither employment nor food the people is in a starving state and dying in the hundreds and the streets of Belfast crowded everyday with people gowing out to America half naked…” --Letter from William Dunne to his nephew John Curtis in America. April 25, 1846 The Irish immigrated in large waves during first half of the 19th century, particularly after the Irish Potato Famine of 1846-47. "Irish Immigration" is a cross-curricular lesson plan that explores the reasons the Irish immigrated to Pennsylvania and their experiences after they arrived. The lesson illuminates the push/pull factors that motivated Irish immigration, the effect immigration had on Irish families, the experiences of community-building in a new urban setting, and the discrimination that this predominantly Catholic group faced in a largely Protestant United States.