Upon successful completion of this course, you should be able to:

• Outline the first steps to take to find your Irish ancestors
• Summarize Irish naming and baptism traditions and their importance in genealogical searches
• Define what a parish and townland are and describe their importance in researching one’s heritage
• List vital genealogy records that can be accessed online and identify what information can be found therein
• List military record resources and summarize their importance in locating ancestors

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Describe the background socio-economic conditions of pre-famine Ireland that led to reliance on the potato
• Explain the biological nature of the potato blight and the immediate social consequences of the crop failure
• Assess the British government response, focusing on the transition from the Relief Commission to the Labor Rate Act
• Evaluate the impact of the workhouse system on the displaced and starving population during the height of the crisis
• Outline the shift in relief responsibility to local Poor Law Unions and the subsequent financial collapse of the system
• Summarize the chronological progression of the famine as it evolved from a localized failure into a national catastrophe
• Analyze the relationship between landlords and tenants following the Encumbered Estates Act
• Discuss the motivations behind the Young Irelander Rebellion and the role of evictions in fueling political unrest
• Relate the patterns of mass emigration via "coffin ships" to the formation of the global Irish diaspora
• Identify the contributions of international philanthropy, including the Society of Friends and the Choctaw Nation
• Classify the causes of mortality, distinguishing between direct starvation and the prevalence of famine-related diseases
• Review the collective memory of the Great Hunger and how it is memorialized in modern Irish and global identity