This short documentary was created for the Tower Museum in 1992. Over the centuries, the City of Derry was a key departure point for emigrants travelling to Great Britain and the United States. There were two great waves of emigration. First, there was the Ulster Scots community in the eighteenth century. The Ulster Scots were escaping laws that prevented them from practicing their religion as they wanted and rising land rents. The second wave occurred during the nineteenth century. The famines that blighted the island’s potato crop drove many people to escape through emigration.

Watch the documentary and find out more about Derry’s remarkable emigration story. This video was donated to the Tower Museum by the Derry-based filmmaker, Vinny Cunningham.

Vinny Cunningham is a filmmaker based in Derry.

This footage was donated to the Tower Museum and the Digital Film Archive by Vinny Cunningham. 

• Derry City & Strabane District Council