[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 12 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 12

 Expressing the sense of the Congress that a model curriculum designed 
  to educate elementary and secondary school-aged children about the 
                   Irish famine should be developed.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 4, 1997

 Mr. Menendez (for himself, Mr. Frelinghuysen, Mr. Gilman, Mr. Manton, 
   Mr. Bonior, Mr. Flake, Mr. Engel, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Foglietta, Mr. 
    Payne, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Andrews, Mr. Franks of New Jersey, Ms. 
   Slaughter, Mrs. Maloney of New York, Mr. Hinchey, and Mr. Doyle) 
 submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to 
              the Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the Congress that a model curriculum designed 
  to educate elementary and secondary school-aged children about the 
                   Irish famine should be developed.

Whereas the Act of Union of 1800 made Ireland a part of the United Kingdom;
Whereas, in 1845, the potato was the staple crop and basic nourishment and 
        sustenance of the people of Ireland;
Whereas a potato blight destroyed most of the potato crop in Ireland between 
        1845 and 1850;
Whereas the famine brought about by the potato blight led to mass starvation 
        over the whole of Ireland and caused the death of more than 1,000,000 of 
        the men, women, and children of Ireland;
Whereas the British government established a massive public works system in a 
        purported attempt to aid the people of Ireland and then sabotaged that 
        system by imposing wages far below the escalating price of food and 
        setting conditions for task work that tens of thousands of people could 
        never meet, thus causing the acknowledged failure of the very relief 
        system it had created;
Whereas, beginning in mid-1847, the British government of the time divested 
        itself of financial responsibility for relieving the famine-stricken 
        population, instead throwing responsibility on the Irish landlords;
Whereas many landlords, themselves financially hard-pressed by the impact of the 
        famine, dispossessed insolvent tenants en masse, leading to the eviction 
        of half a million Irish people between 1846 and 1854 causing countless 
        deaths from exposure, disease, and starvation;
Whereas the elongation of the potato blight and the lack of aid led to the mass 
        emigration of more than 1,000,000 of the Irish people to the United 
        States during the years of the famine;
Whereas, after visiting Ireland in 1845, the African-American abolitionist 
        Frederick Douglass wrote that the people of Ireland ``are in the same 
        degradation as the American slaves'';
Whereas many people in Britain, most notably Quakers, were sympathetic and 
        generous toward the people of Ireland during the famine and organized 
        extensive relief efforts for the starving masses;
Whereas these immigrants and their descendants have made and continue to make 
        profound and lasting contributions to the culture and history of the 
        United States; and
Whereas children in the United States should be educated about the famine in 
        Ireland and its effects: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of the Congress that the Department of Education 
should develop a model curriculum designed to educate elementary and 
secondary school-aged children about the Irish famine and its effects, 
and that this model curriculum should be readily available to 
educational institutions and the public.
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