Bad Bridget: When American Dreams became Nightmares

Irish History Podcast

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1y ago 27:51

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Emigration has been one of the defining features of Irish life since the Great Hunger. Generations have been drawn to the United States in the hope of finding a better life across the Atlantic. Many succeeded but for some these dreams became nightmares.

Over the last few years The Bad Bridget Project in Queens University Belfast by Dr Elaine Farrell and Dr Leanne McCormick has focused on criminal and deviant Irish women in North America. Now an award winning podcast and book, Leanne and Elaine join me in this episode share the stories they have uncovered.

These include Annie Young a woman who lived in grinding poverty, the sex workers Maud Merrill and Marion Canning and the somewhat unbelievable Ellen Nagle a child prosecuted for being stubborn!

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