
❝ There are almost no first-person accounts of the famine from the point of view of someone who went hungry. Survivors were often reluctant to discuss what had happened, if they were so lucky as to make it through alive. When the catastrophe hit, Ireland had been under British rule for seven centuries, during which time Catholics had seen their lands confiscated and laws passed that discriminated against them sharply. Millions of Irish were eking out a living as tenant farmers. The diet of the average tenant farmer consisted of 12 pounds of potatoes per day, plus buttermilk. In rural areas, people spoke primarily Gaelic, and few knew how to read or write — many had never been to school … [NYPost.com]
KELLI HARDING is an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University & author of The Rabbit Effect: Live Longer, Happier, and Healthier with the Groundbreaking Science of Kindness. Learn more about booking Kelli for your next event today. |