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Irish Americans are residents or citizens of the United States who claim Irish ancestry. Thirty-four million Americans--or roughly 15% of all Americans--report Irish ancestry.

There are two ancestries that are larger than Irish, German (42.8 million) and British (57.6 million).

The term Scotch-Irish (or Scots-Irish) is usually used to designate descendants of immigrants from Ulster whose ancestors originally came from Scotland. Some Scotch-Irish also consider themselves Irish-American. Because of sectarianism between Irish Protestants and Irish Catholics, most Protestant immigrants came to be known as Scotch-Irish, with Catholics preferring the term Irish-American. This distinction is not as rigid as it once was, and many Scotch-Irish consider themselves a sub-set of the broader Irish-American group. In addition to Irish-American, Scotch-Irish number over 5 million.

Immigration to America

Many Scots Irish Protestants moved to America before 1776,, settling especially in frontier areas of Pennsylvania, Virginia and the Carolinas. Much of the South also shows their historic imprint.

During and after the Irish potato famine (or Great Hunger (An Gorta Mor)) of 1845-1849 millions of Catholics came to North America. Many arrived to Canada in disease-ridden ships referred to as coffin ships. Some of them remained there, especially in Toronto and Ontario, and became Irish-Canadians; others moved to the United States. Between 1820 and 1860, one third of all immigrants to the United States were Irish Catholics, and in the 1840s, they comprised nearly half of all immigrants.

Occupations

The largest numbers went to the metropolitan areas of Boston and New York. Even before the famine, Irish Catholic immigration had been increasing by the 1830s as new immigrants were hired by Irish labor contractors to work as manual laborers on canals, railroads, streets, sewers and other construction projects, particularly in New York state and New England. Large numbers moved to New England mill towns, such as Lowell, Massachusetts where Protestant owners of textile mills welcomed the new workers. They took the jobs previously held by Yankee Protestant women known as Lowell girls. A large fraction of Irish Catholic women took jobs as maids in middle class households and hotels. The main business enterprises were taverns and construction. Large numbers of unemployed Irish Catholics lived in squalid conditions in the new city slums. Although the Irish Catholics started very low on the social status scale, by 1900 they had jobs and earnings about equal on average to their neighbors. After 1945 the Catholic Irish consistently ranked toward the top of the social hierarchy, thanks especially to their high rate of college attendance.

Discrimination and Prejudice

Nativist prejudice against Irish Catholics reached a peak in the mid-1850s with the Know Nothing Movement which rtried to oust Catholics from office. Much of the opposition came from Irish Protestants, as in the 1831 riots in Philadelphia. In rural areas riots broke out in the 1830s among rival labor teams from different parts of Ireland, and between Irish and nativist work teams competing for construction jobs.

Popular belief is that employers would ward off Irish jobseekers by posting signs reading "HELP WANTED - NO IRISH NEED APPLY." However, computerized searches through hundreds of thousands of pages of newspapers have so far turned up only one such newspaper ad , as shown here. Some historians contend that the prevalence of "NINA" was possibly a rememberance of a popular song of the 1860s (see illustration); searches by historians, archivists and curators have found zero signs, photographs, or references to actual signs in the U.S. that involved discrimination against the Irish. (They were quite common in Britain and Canada.)

However, it was common for Irishmen to be discriminated against in the workplace and social situations. Violence against Irish Catholics persisted for quite a while in the 20th Century. From the 19th century to the present, stereotypes portray the Irish as being violent among themselves, being prone to alcoholism, and being dependent on gangs that were often violent or criminal. The cartoons of German-American Thomas Nast were especially hostile; for example he depicted the Irish-dominated Tammany Hall machine in New York City as a ferocious tiger. .

In the South, the Irish Catholics concentrated in the cities, became leaders in the Democratic party, supported slavery, and strongly supported the Confederacy. Starting as low skilled manual laborers they achieved average status by 1900. As one historian explains,

"Native tolerance, however, was also a very important factor in Irish integration . Although typical social barriers remained firmly in place, most wealthy southerners did not oppose Irish presence in their communities. Unlike in the North, the Irish never dominated the population of any southern city. Upper-class southerners, therefore, did not object to the Irish, because Irish immigration never threatened to overwhelm their cities or states....The Irish were willing to take on potentially high-mortality occupations, thereby sparing valuable slave property. Some employers objected not only to the cost of Irish labor but also to the rowdiness of their foreign-born employees. Nevertheless, they recognized the importance of the Irish worker to the protection of slavery. The Irish endorsement of slavery and the efforts of the Irish to preserve the South as "a white man's country" after emancipation only endeared them further to southerners. The Catholicism practiced by Irish immigrants was of little concern to Southern natives.

Sense of Heritage

Irish descendants retain a sense of their Irish heritage. Many Catholics were enthusiastic supporters of Irish independence; after that was achieved in 1921, they generally lost interest in the politics of the old country until political violence erupted again in the 1970s. A sense of exile, diaspora, and (in the case of songs) even nostalgia is common in Irish America. Some Irish Catholic Americans were known to have funded the terrorist activities of the Provisonal IRA.

Irish Catholic Americans are found in cities throughout the United States; very few became farmers. Strongholds include the metropolitan areas of Boston, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, where most new arrivals of the 1830-1910 period settled. As a percentage of the population, Massachusetts is the most Irish state, with about a quarter of the population claiming Irish descent. The most Irish American town in the United States is Milton, Massachusetts, with 43% of its 26,000 or so residents being of Irish descent. Boston, New York, and Chicago have neighborhoods with higher percentages of Irish-American residents. Regionally, the most Irish-American part of the country remains central New England.

Politics and Government

The Catholic Irish moved rapidly into law enforcement, and (through the Church) built hundreds of schools, colleges, orphanages, hospitals, and asylums. Political opposition to the Catholic Irish climaxed in 1854 in the short-lived Know-Nothing Party. The Irish had a reputation of being very well organized, and since 1850 have produced a majority of the leaders of the Catholic Church in the U.S., labor unions, the Democratic party in larger cities, and Catholic high schools, colleges and universities. Politically, the Irish Catholic typically voted 80-95% Democratic in elections down to 1964. John F. Kennedy was their greatest political hero. Al Smith was popular too, but he had only one Irish grandparent. From the 1830s to the 1960s Irish Catholics voted 80-95% Democratic, with occasional exceptions like the election of 1920.

Many major cities have elected Irish-born and Irish American mayors. The cities of Boston, Cincinnati, Houston, New York City, Omaha, Pittsburgh, Saint Louis, Saint Paul, and San Francisco have elected natives of Ireland as mayor. New York City has had at least three Irish-born mayors and over seven Irish-American mayors. Chicago and Boston both have had nine Irish-American mayors, which is more than any other ethnic group. The cities of Chicago, Baltimore, Oakland, Omaha, Pittsburgh, St. Paul, Jersey City, Rochester, Springfield, Rockford, and Syracuse currently have Irish-American mayors.

The Irish Protestant vote has not been studied nearly as much. Supporters of Andrew Jackson emphasized his Irish background, but since the 1840s it has been uncommon for a Protestant politician to be identified as Irish. In Canada, by contrast, Irish Protestants remained a cohesive political force well into the 20th century many (but not all) belonging to the Orange Order. In the late 19th century, sectarian confrontation became commonplace between Protestant Irish and Catholic Irish in Toronto, for example.

The Irish Protestant vote has not been studied nearly as much. Supporters of Andrew Jackson emphasized his Irish background, but since the 1840s it has been uncommon for a Protestant politician to be identified as Irish. (Ronald Reagan's father was Irish Catholic, but the boy was raised Protestant.) In Canada, by contrast, Irish Protestants remained a cohesive political force well into the 20th century many (but not all) belonging to the Orange Order. In the late 19th century, sectarian confrontation became commonplace between Protestants and Catholics in Toronto, for example.

Popular culture

Irish authors, songsters and actors made a major contribution to American popular culture, often portraying police officers and firefighters as being Irish-American. In fact, the urban Irish cop and firefighter are virtual icons of American popular culture; in many large cities the police and fire departments have been dominated by the Irish for over 100 years, even after the populations in those cities of Irish extraction dwindled down to small minorities. Many police and fire departments maintain large and active "Emerald Societies", bagpipe marching groups, or other similar units demonstrating their members' pride in their Irish heritage. The Irish American way of life has also been chronicled in the modern media, most notably in movies such as Angels with Dirty Faces, the labor epic On the Waterfront and on television in series such as Ryan's Hope. More controversial are strongly pro-Catholic fraternal organizations like the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick.

Saint Patrick's Day is widely celebrated across the United States as a day of celebration of all things Irish and faux-Irish, especially in New York. Parades, parties, and other festive events mark the day.

New York City has more people who claim Irish heritage than Dublin's whole population.

The majority of Irish immigrants were proficient in the English language, but many would have been bilingual or native speakers of the Irish Gaelic. According to the latest census, the Irish language ranks 66th out of the 322 languages spoken today in the U.S., with over 25,000 speakers. New York State has the most Irish speakers, and Massachusetts the highest percentage, of the fifty states.

Irish-American communities

See List of Irish-American communities

See also

• List of Ireland-related topics
• List of Irish-Americans
• Irish diaspora
• It's A Great Day for the Irish

References

General Surveys

• Glazier, Michael, ed. The Encyclopedia of the Irish in America, (1999), the best place to start--the most authoritative source, with essays by over 200 experts, covering both Catholic and Protestants.
• Meagher, Timothy J. The Columbia Guide to Irish American History. (2005).

The Catholic Irish

• Anbinder, Tyler. Five Points: The Nineteenth-Century New York City Neighborhood That Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections and Became the World's Most Notorious Slum (2001).
• Bayor, Ronald and Timothy Meagher, eds. The New York Irish (1996) comprehenvice overview by numerous scholars
• Blessing, Patrick J. The Irish in America: A Guide to the Literature. Longaeva Books (1992)
• Clark, Dennis. The Irish in Philadelphia: Ten Generations of Urban Experience (1973)
• Diner, Hasia R. Erin's Daughters in America : Irish Immigrant Women in the Nineteenth Century (1983).
• Erie, Steven P. Rainbow's End: Irish-Americans and the Dilemmas of Urban Machine Politics, 1840—1985 (1988).
• Gleeson; David T. The Irish in the South, 1815-1877 University of North Carolina Press, 2001
• Greeley, Andrew M. The Irish Americans: The Rise to Money and Power. (1993).
• Ignatiev, Noel. How the Irish Became White (1996).
• Jensen, Richard. "No Irish Need Apply": A Myth of Victimization," Journal of Social History 36.2 (2002) 405-429
• Kenny, Kevin. The American Irish: A History (2000).
• McCaffrey, Lawrence J. The Irish Diaspora in America (1976).
• Meagher, Timothy J. Inventing Irish America: Generation, Class, and Ethnic Identity in a New England City, 1880-1928 (2000).
• Miller, Kerby M. Emigrants and Exiles (1985)
• Mitchell, Brian C. The Paddy Camps: The Irish of Lowell, 1821—61 (1988).
• Mulrooney, Margaret M. ed. Fleeing the Famine: North America and Irish Refugees, 1845-1851 (2003). Essays by scholars
• O'Donnell, L. A. Irish Voice and Organized Labor in America: A Biographical Study (1997)

The Protestant Irish

• Blethen, Tyler Ulster and North America : transatlantic perspectives on the Scotch-Irish (1999) online at ACLS History e-book project
• Fischer, David Hackett. Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America (1991), major scholarly study tracing colonial roots of four groups of immigrants, Irish, English Puritans, English Cavaliers, and Quakers.
• Griffin, Patrick. The People with No Name: Ireland's Ulster Scots, America's Scots Irish, and the Creation of a British Atlantic World, 1689-1764. (2001)
• Leyburn, James G. Scotch-Irish: A Social History (1989), the best starting point.
• Webb, James. Born Fighting : How the Scots-Irish Shaped America(2004) by a popular novelist, not considered reliable by scholars.

External links

• Ancient Order of Hibernians
• IMDb.com Irish-American
• irishabroad.com
• The Ireland Funds
• Irish-American Democrats
• Irish-American News
• Irish Tribute
• New York Irish Bars
• FDNY Emerald Society
• FDNY Emerald Society Pipes and Drums
• National Conference of Law Enforcement Emerald Societies
• The Irish Diaspora
• Irish Voice
• Irish America
• Irish Expatriate Discussion Forum
• Boston Irish Reporter
• Buffalo's Irish Community
• Chicago Irish Guide
• Detroit's Irish Community
• Kansas City's Irish Community
• Irish Community in Los Angeles
• Omaha's Irish Community
• Irish Philadelphia
• Pittsburgh Irish Network

1. Hoeber, Francis W. "Drama in the Courtroom, Theater in the Streets: Philadelphia's Irish Riot of 1831" Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 2001 125(3): 191-232. Issn: 0031-4587
2. Prince, Carl E. "The Great 'Riot Year': Jacksonian Democracy and Patterns of Violence in 1834." Journal of the Early Republic 1985 5(1): 1-19. Issn: 0275-1275 examines 24 episodes including the January labor riot at the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, the New York City election riot in April, the Philadelphia race riot in August, and the Baltimore & Washington Railroad riot in November.

• Irish-Americans
• Ethnic groups in the United States
• Ethnic groups in North America