3. Potato blight In the mid-nineteenth century the potato crops (récoltes) were destroyed by a disease. As it was the only source of food for poor Irish people, many people starved to death*. It is estimated that more than a million died and as a consequence many emigrated to the USA, Australia and England. * (mourir de faim) The Trail of Tears
4. The Choctaw Donation In 1847, The Choctaw tribe (tribu) of American Indians sent a generous donation to the starving Irish. They had a special affinity with the hungry and those who had lost their homes because it was only 16 years since their tribe had walked the « Trail of Tears »* from Mississippi to Oklahoma. This extraordinary gift (cadeau) from a people who were not themselves wealthy (= rich) has never been forgotten. In 1997 – the 150 th anniversary of that generous gesture - a group of Irish people walked the Trail of Tears in reverse, back to the Choctaw homeland. ( * ' La Piste des Larmes' = forced removal (déplacement) of Native Americans (Indians) by the US government)
