“Black ’47” is the name given to one of the worst periods of the Great Irish Famine. More precisely, it refers to the year 1847, when famine hit the Irish people hardest. Within a year, the death toll had risen into the thousands, causing an unprecedented hecatomb. The whole process was also precipitated by a harsh winter: the starving Irish succumbed to hunger, cold and disease… A look back at one of Ireland’s worst periods.
A scene from the Great Irish Famine – Public domain
To better understand the facts, it’s important to go back a few years. In 1845, Ireland’s potato fields were infested with late blight. It is a parasite that wilts tubers, preventing them from being eaten.
At that time, the majority of Irish people lived in abject poverty, surviving essentially on this staple food…
The rest of the foodstuffs (meat, milk, fish, eggs, etc.) tended to be exploited and exported by the English to the United Kingdom.
A terrible famine was about to begin. In the early years, the Irish struggled to survive. They are not only hungry, but also sick.
The Great Irish Famine – Domaine Public
After 2 rigorous years, England declares that mildew has been defeated in Ireland. It is therefore suspending its soup kitchens and all forms of aid to Ireland.
This was a terrible mistake, as 1847 was to see one of the worst winters the island had ever seen. Dubbed Black’47, this winter ended the last Irish resistance.
The island is swept by storms, snowfalls and bitterly cold winds.
Already severely weakened, the 4 million Irish people most at risk do not have the strength to cope with the rigors of winter.
All the more so as a major operation, led by English landowners, precipitated the eviction of thousands of Irish from their homes. And the English methods are more than questionable: to make sure they don’t come back, they destroy the roofs of the houses!
There are thousands of expropriated Irish people trying to survive in the open air, or living in their roofless houses in the middle of snow, mud, rain and wind… Unhealthy conditions that precipitated the deaths of thousands of children, women and men.
Typhus, dysentery and other diseases of the time spread like wildfire… And public works, set up to provide work and livelihoods, were not sufficient to meet needs, and conditions in the workhouses were disastrous.
Thus,“Black ’47” is not just a term for the harsh climate of that winter, but a direct reference to the culmination of the horrors of the Great Famine during that particularly devastating year.
The Black 47 is still remembered today as a true atrocity. Many Irish people lost their lives… while England lived in opulence, and responded to the crisis in a timid and inadequate way.
This winter has left a bitter taste in Irish minds. Many Irish people still pay tribute every year to their forebears who fell during this period.
A film called Black’47 or Renegade retraces this period, set against the backdrop of an action movie. Released in 2018, it tells the story of that terrible winter of 1847, when an Irishman returns to his native island in Connemara to find his wife and children, and take them to America.
Once there, the realization is terrible: he has witnessed the death of his family, following an expropriation gone wrong. Broken, he decides to take revenge, murdering every Englishman he meets along the way…
A vengeful film, set against a historical backdrop, that sounds like an outlet for the Irish…
4.50/5 (2 votes)
