Irish American
Infobox Ethnic group
group = Irish American
group = Irish American
"Gael-Mheiriceánach"
caption =
James Braddock •
poptime = Irish 35,975,855 Americans cite web | url = http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-ds_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_&-_lang=en&-_caller=geoselect&-format= | title = U.S. Census | publisher = U.S. Census Bureau | accessdate = 2008-04-13] ×12% of the US population (2006)
popplace = Throughout the entire Northeast, the West Coast, much of the South and Midwest, as well as the New York,
langs =
rels = Predominantly
related =
Irish Americans ( _ga. Gael-Mheiriceánach) are citizens of the
Immigration to America
Catholics
Irish Catholics had been migrating to the United States in moderate numbers even before the During and after the " Nearly a third of all Irish who left on ships during the famine period to North America emigrated from the Many of these immigrants went to the largest cities, especially After 1860, Irish Catholic immigration continued, with The majority of Irish immigrants probably spoke English; some were bilingual or native speakers of Irish. 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 50 states.Fact|date=May 2008 cots-Irish and Irish Protestants The term Scots-Irish (aka "Ulster-Scots") is usually used to designate descendants of Scottish The primary origin of this large population is centered around a quarter of a million Scots-Irish who fled the economic distress and social upheaval in the 18th century. They emigrated to America primarily before 1776 as subjects of the British Empire moving from one region to another. They settled especially in frontier areas of Two possible reasons have been suggested for the disparity of the figures of the census and the estimation. The first is that the English and Scots-Irish may quite often regard themselves as simply having either Irish ancestry (which 10.8% of Americans reported) or Scottish ancestry (reported by 4.9 million or 1.7% of the total population) or English ancestry.Or|date=March 2008 The other is that most of the descendants of this historical group have integrated themselves into American society because of the length of time they have been here, even reporting their ancestry as simply "American" (the most common ancestry in areas historically settled by the English and Scots-Irish, especially throughout much of the Many of the 'English' and 'Scots-Irish' Protestants had assimilated into society by the time the large numbers of Catholic Irish immigrants arrived. When the numerous Scots-Irish first arrived, they were perceived as a distinctive group who settled mostly in the backcountry. Not only were the Irish Catholics a much larger group arriving in a later era of immigration, but they were at first separated from the main society by their Catholic religion and also by the long tradition of oppression by the English given their occupation of Ireland. In addition, they came from a mostly rural culture and entered cities in the United States which were rapidly industrializing. They had additional challenges than did the Scots-Irish who could become yeoman farmers in the early generations. These issues affected how Americans received Irish Catholics, as well as how they took to the United States. In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in the historical roots of Irish Protestants in North America. The Protestant Irish, particularly of the Scots-Irish background, usually retained a strong interest in farming, herding, and hunting. Additionally through the cousinage and clan ties, many of the Scots-Irish were rapidly encouraged to move onto the frontier where fellow Scots-Irish and American natives of Scots-Irish background awaited. Nonetheless, a significant number of the Scots-Irish who remained in the cities of the United States quickly took advantage of the new Republic's opportunities and assimilated into the artisan, craftsmen, and small business classes. Occupations Irish Catholic immigrants for the most part went directly to the cities, mill towns and railroad or canal construction sites in the east coast. Few became farmers. They were hired by Irish labor contractors to work in "labor gangs" as manual laborers on canals, railroads, streets, sewers and other construction projects, particularly in Large numbers of unemployed Irish Catholics lived in squalid conditions in the new city slums.cite web | url = http://www.yale.edu/glc/archive/1021.htm | title = The Sanitary and Moral Condition of New York City | publisher = Yale University | accessdate = 2008-04-13] 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.Greeley (1988), p. 1.] The Irish quickly found employment in the police departments, fire departments and other public works of major cities, largely in the North East and around the Great Lakes. In the 1860s more than half of those arrested in New York City were Irish born or of Irish descent but nearly half of the City's law enforcement officers were also Irish. By the turn of the century, five out of six NYPD officers were Irish born or of Irish descent. Irish Americans continue to have a disproportionate membership in the law enforcement community, especially in New England, where they continue to have a dominating role. When the Emerald Society of the Boston Police Department was formed in 1973, half of the city's police officers became members. Discrimination and prejudice It was common for Irishmen to be discriminated against in social situations. Intermarriage between Catholics and Protestants was uncommon (and strongly discouraged by both ministers and priests). Public schools relied heavily on the Prejudice against Irish Catholics in the US reached a peak in the mid-1850s with the After 1860 the Irish sang songs (see illustration) about signs reading "HELP WANTED - NO IRISH NEED APPLY", which were also referred to as "the NINA signs." The song had a deep impact on the Irish sense of discrimination. Irish were credited with dominating the most difficult and dangerous jobs in the East building railroads needed for oil refining and for the trans-continental railroads, but were gradually replaced as the transcontinental railroad went West where Asian American labor was cheaper and less likely to demand union representation. Stephen Ambrose, "Nothing Like it in the World: The Men who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 1863-1869" (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000). According to Ambrose, approximately one-third of the workers died building the trenches for the tracks, often disappearing, never to be brought home. The emancipation of slaves was an issue the railroads lobbied for heavily, one that inspired them to turn to Abraham Lincoln. The industry planned for a huge influx of cheap labor to escalate the dangerous work of building railraods. The issue caused much concern for the Irish in the Northeast. Irish Catholics were popular targets for stereotyping. According to historian George Potter, the media often stereotyped the Irish in America as being boss-controlled, violent (both among themselves and with those of other ethnic groups), voting illegally, prone to The Irish had many humorists of their own, but were scathingly attacked in German American cartoons, especially those in "Puck" magazine from the 1870s to 1900. In addition, the cartoons of German American Irish settlement in the South While only 2% of Southerners were Irish Catholics, they concentrated in a few medium-size cities where they were highly visible, such as Charleston, Savannah and The influence of the Presbyterian Irish Americans on the very foundation of the nation cannot be understated. The Declaration of Independence was drafted in handwriting by, and printed by, one such man — ense of heritage People of Irish descent, particularly Roman Catholics, retain a sense of their Irish heritage. A sense of exile, diaspora, and (in the case of songs) even nostalgia is common in Irish America. It is unclear to what extent the sense of kinship with Ireland is embraced or resented by the actual Irish Citizens of Ireland, now that the country is strengthening its ties to Europe and becoming increasingly multi-racial. The term " Many Irish Americans were enthusiastic supporters of Irish independence; the Irish Catholic Americans settled in large and small cities throughout the North--railroad centers and mill towns especially. They became perhaps the most urbanized group in America, as few became farmers. [ Kenny (2000) p 105-6 ] Strongholds include the metropolitan areas of Boston, Irish in politics and government The Catholic Irish moved rapidly into law enforcement, and (through the Catholic 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. By the 1850s, the Irish Catholics were a major presence in the police departments of large cities. In New York City in 1855, of the city's 1,149 policemen, 305 were natives of Ireland. The creation of a unified police force in Philadelphia opened the door to the Irish in that city. By 1860 in Chicago, 49 of the 107 on the police force were Irish. Chief O'Leary headed the police force in New Orleans and Malachi Fallon was chief of police of San Francisco.Potter (1960), p. 530] The Irish had a reputation for being very well organized, and, since 1850, have produced a majority of the leaders of the U.S. Catholic Church, labor unions, the Democratic Party in larger cities, and Catholic high schools, colleges and universities. Today, most Irish Catholic politicians are associated with the Democratic Party, although some became Republican leaders, such as former GOP national chairman Many major cities have elected Irish American Catholic mayors. Indeed, Boston, The Irish Protestant vote has not been studied nearly as much. Since the 1840s, it has been uncommon for a Protestant politician to be identified as Irish (though Ronald Reagan notably did and Bill Clinton claims to have Irish ancestry). In Canada, by contrast, Irish Protestants remained a cohesive political force well into the 20th century with many (but not all) belonging to the Orange Order. Throughout the 19th century, sectarian confrontation was commonplace between Protestant Irish and Catholic Irish in Canadian cities. Presidents of Irish and Scots-Irish descent At least twenty-three presidents of the United States have some Irish/Northern Irish ( Other Presidents of Irish descent # Contributions to American culture The annual celebration of Since the arrival of tens of thousands of Irish immigrants in the 1840s, the urban Irish cop and firefighter have become 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. While these archetypal images are especially well known, Irish Americans have contributed to U.S. culture in a wide variety of fields: the fine and performing arts, film, literature, politics, sports, and religion. The Irish-American contribution to popular entertainment is reflected in the careers of figures such as Since the early days of the film industry, celluloid representations of Irish-Americans have been plentiful. Famous films with Irish-American themes include social dramas such as " Prominent Irish-American literary figures include Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winning playwright The Irish-American contribution to politics spans the entire ideological spectrum. Socially conservative Irish immigrants generally recoiled from radical politics, and in the early 1950s, a disproportionate percentage of Irish Americans supported Senator The wide popularity of Celtic music has fostered the rise of Irish-American bands that draw heavily on traditional Irish themes and music. Such groups include the The Irish brought their native games of Irish-American communities ee also * Notes References * Gleeson; David T. (2001). "The Irish in the South, 1815-1877". Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0807826391 Further reading General surveys * Fanning, Charles (1990/2000). "The Irish Voice in America: 250 Years of Irish-American Fiction". Lexington: The University of Kentucky Press. ISBN 0813109701 Catholic Irish * Anbinder, Tyler (2002). "Five Points: The Nineteenth-Century New York City Neighborhood That Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections and Became the World's Most Notorious Slum". New York: Plume ISBN 0452283612 Protestant Irish * Blethen, Tyler; Wood, Curtis W. Jr.; Blethen, H. Tyler (Eds.) (1997). "Ulster and North America: Transatlantic Perspectives on the Scotch-Irish". Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0817308237 External links * [http://www.irishamerica.com/ Irish America magazine] - magazine for Irish Americans Communities * [http://www.buffaloirish.com/ Buffalo's Irish Community]
=Stereotypes and 
thumb|left|340px|Distribution of Irish Americans according to the 2000 Census
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* Greeley, Andrew M. (1988). "The Irish Americans: The Rise to Money and Power". New York: Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 0446385589
* Kenny, Kevin. (2000). "The American Irish: A History". New York: Longman. ISBN 058227818X
* Marlin, George J. (2004). "The American Catholic Voter: Two-Hundred Years of Public Impact". New York: St. Augustine's Press. ISBN 1587310236
* Potter, George W. (1960). "To the Golden Door: The Story of the Irish in Ireland and America". New York: Greenwood Press.
* Prendergast, William B. (1999). "The Catholic Voter in American Politics: The Passing of the Democratic Monolith". Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. ISBN 0878407243
* Roberts, Gary Boyd; Otto, Julie Helen (1995). "Ancestors of American Presidents: First Authoritative Edition". Boston: Boyer 3rd. ISBN 0936124199
* Ruckenstein, Lelia; O'Malley, James A. (2003). "Everything Irish: The History, Literature, Art, Music, People, and Place". New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 034546110X
* Glazier, Michael, ed. (1999). "The Encyclopedia of the Irish in America". Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press. ISBN 0268027552
* Meagher, Timothy J. (2005). "The Columbia Guide to Irish American History". New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231120708
* Miller, Kerby M. (1985). "Emigrants and Exiles: Ireland and the Irish Exodus to North America". New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195051874
* Negra, Diane (ed.) (2006). "The Irish in Us". Durham, NC: Duke University Press. ISBN 0822337401
* Quinlan, Kieran (2005). "Strange Kin: Ireland and the American South". Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 9780807129838
* Bayor, Ronald; Meagher, Timothy (eds.) (1997) "The New York Irish". Baltimore: University of Johns Hopkins Press. ISBN 0801857643
* Blessing, Patrick J. (1992). "The Irish in America: A Guide to the Literature and the Manuscript Editions". Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press. ISBN 0813207312
*Clark, Dennis. (1982). "The Irish in Philadelphia: Ten Generations of Urban Experience" (2nd Ed.). Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 0877222274
* Diner, Hasia R. (1983). "Erin's Daughters in America: Irish Immigrant Women in the Nineteenth Century". Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0801828724
* English, T. J. (2005). "Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster". New York: ReganBooks. ISBN 0060590025
* Erie, Steven P. (1988). "Rainbow's End: Irish-Americans and the Dilemmas of Urban Machine Politics, 1840—1985". Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. ISBN 0520071832
* Ignatiev, Noel (1996). "How the Irish Became White". New York: Routledge. ISBN 0415918251
* McCaffrey, Lawrence J. (1976). "The Irish Diaspora in America". Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America ISBN 0813208963
* Meagher, Timothy J. (2000). "Inventing Irish America: Generation, Class, and Ethnic Identity in a New England City, 1880-1928". Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press. ISBN 0268031541
* Mitchell, Brian C. (2006). "The Paddy Camps: The Irish of Lowell, 1821–61". Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 025207338X
* Mulrooney, Margaret M. (ed.) (2003). "Fleeing the Famine: North America and Irish Refugees, 1845–1851". New York: Praeger Publishers. ISBN 027597670X
* Noble, Dale T. (1986). "Paddy and the Republic: Ethnicity and Nationality in Antebellum America". Middleton, CT: Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 0819561673
* O'Connor, Thomas H. (1995). "The Boston Irish: A Political History". Old Saybrook, CT: Konecky & Konecky. ISBN 9781568526201
* O'Donnell, L. A. (1997). "Irish Voice and Organized Labor in America: A Biographical Study". Westport, CN: Greenwood Press.
* Bolton, Charles Knowles (2006). "Scotch Irish Pioneers in Ulster and America". Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing Company. ISBN 1428614877
* Cunningham, Roger (1991). "Apples on the Flood: Minority Discourse and Appalachia". Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press. ISBN 0870496298
* Fischer, David Hackett (1991). "Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America". New York: Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 0195069056
* Griffin, Patrick (2001). "The People with No Name: Ireland's Ulster Scots, America's Scots Irish, and the Creation of a British Atlantic World, 1689–1764". Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691074623
* Ford, Henry Jones (1915/2006). "The Scotch-Irish in America". Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing Company. ISBN 0548646953
* Leyburn, James G. (1989). "The Scotch-Irish: A Social History". Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0807842591
* Lorle, Porter (1999). "A People Set Apart: The Scotch-Irish in Eastern Ohio". Zanesville, OH: Equine Graphics Publishing. ISBN 1887932755
* McWhiney, Grady (1988). " Cracker Culture: Celtic Ways in the Old South". Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0817303286
* Webb, James (2004). "Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America". New York: Broadway. ISBN 0767916883
* [http://www.irishvoice.com/ Irish Voice] - newspaper for Irish Americans
* [http://www.IrishEmigrant.com/Boston The Boston Irish Emigrant]
* [http://www.IrishEmigrant.com/NY The New York Irish Emigrant]
* [http://www.aoh.com/ Ancient Order of Hibernians]
* [http://www.imdb.com/keyword/irish-american IMDb.com Irish-American]
* [http://www.irlfunds.org/ The Ireland Funds]
* [http://www.eiresociety.org/ The Eire Society of Boston]
* [http://www.murphguide.com/irish.htm New York Irish Bars]
* [http://www.fdnyemerald.com/ FDNY Emerald Society]
* [http://fdnypipesanddrums.com/ FDNY Emerald Society Pipes and Drums]
* [http://nclees.org/ National Conference of Law Enforcement Emerald Societies]
* [http://www.upthedeise.org/waterfordmessageboard Irish Expatriate Discussion Forum]
* [http://www.bostonirish.com/ Boston Irish Reporter]
* [http://homepage.eircom.net/%257Eseanjmurphy/dir/pres.htm American Presidents with Irish Ancestors]
* [http://www.IrishAmericanHistory.com/ IrishAmericanHistory.com - Irish American History]
* [http://www.Irishamericanstoryproject.com/ Irish American Story Project]
* [http://www.rte.ie/live/?news/ News for Irish Americans]
* [http://www.detroitirish.org/ Detroit's Irish Community]
* [http://www.kcirish.org/ Kansas City's Irish Community]
* [http://www.irishinla.com/ Irish Community in Los Angeles]
* [http://www.irishomaha.com/ Omaha's Irish Community]
* [http://www.irishphiladelphia.com/ Irish Philadelphia]
* [http://www.pittsburghirish.org/ Pittsburgh Irish Network]
Look at other dictionaries:
- Irish-American — Hypheated America Hypheated America A America who is referred to by a hypheated term with the first word idicatig a origi i a foreig coutry, ad the secod term beig ``America ", as {Irish-America}, {Italia-America},… (The Collaborative International Dictionary of English)
- Irish-American — Irish American I"rish A mer"i can, Irish-AmericanI"rish-A mer"i can A native of Ireland who has become an American citizen; also, a child or descendant of such a person. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]…