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This is an archive of past discussions about Irish Americans. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Archive 1 | Archive 2 | Archive 3 | → | Archive 5 |
Cahnged: Irish Americans currently make up roughly 10% of all Americans. to Those who claim to be Irish Americans currently make up roughly 10% of all Americans.
Often those with a mixed heritage chose the identity of their nearest kith and kin. An individual might be 1/4 Irish and 3/4 other European extraction but chose the Irish identity. 80.255.219.52 12:29, 8 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Yes but the 10% is referrering to First Ancestry. That's 50% or more Irish. Any Irish ancestry claimed is higher than 10%.
"There are more Irish people in New York City than in Dublin, Ireland." No there aren't. There may be some vast number of Irish-Americans, but there are not very many Irish people. Here's a fine (?) Irish-American newspaper that will explain how an Irish-American person can become an Irish one. But only until the end of 2005. http://www.irishecho.com/newspaper/story.cfm?id=16052 Angusmclellan 20:34, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Re: the large number of Americans of both Irish and Italian descent: I don't think it has to do with any Mafia or IRA stigma as much as the fact that both groups are Catholic and both groups are very large in the Northeast USA.
6/29/05 RJensen: we need a discussion about "racism" here. The so-called "racist" link one person objected to is to a major scholarly article that shows --among many other points--that Protestants were not hostile (or "racist") toward the Irish. To remove the link to a standard scholarly source (a leading professional history journal, no less) makes a travesty of an encyclopedia. The article (which I wrote) is thoroughly documented with the latest scholarship and has been reviewed by dozens of college professors (many of them Irish themselves).
Maybe some Irishmen believe in old myths; that is fine...but they should not try to keep the facts away from Encyclopedia users. Maybe they cannot handle the scholarly argument that they were not vicitimized in America (they were indeed victimized in the UK). If someone still believes that urban myth after reading http://tigger.uic.edu/~rjensen/no-irish.htm they might try finding some scholarship that supports their position and we can have a debate. (There is no such scholarship by the way!)
Better to let our readers find links to solid scholarship. I have removed links to sites that offer little on nothing of value to the user of an encyclopedia.
Richard Jensen (PhD and professor of history)
So let's say that there were no NINA signs, this in no way proves that the Irish were welcomed with open arms like you would have us believe. You have the nerve to say that Protestants didn't treat Irish Catholic immigrants as inferiors?? Sure they let the Irish do those dirty jobs that they wouldn't do, why wouldn't they? How do you conclude from this fact that they were treated as equals?
Barbarossa
Racism against the Irish immigrants probably didn't exist in America to the same extent as it did in Britain, but it would be naive to say there was none. Prejudgice against strangers is unfortunately part of human nature and the remains of anti-Irishism in popular American culture can still be seen. As a regular visitor to the US, I still experience some prejudgice, most of which is not meant to be offensive. There is still this view held that Ireland is a backwards, uneducated island of self-subsistant farmer. I realise these attitudes arise from ignorance and the "green" tinted glasses of some Irish-Americans. In fact, my friends and I have got used to playing to these stereotypes and watching the reaction of our new American friends as we reveal our true backgrounds! (I for example have a PhD in chemistry and am from an urban area on the west-coast of Ireland).
Anon.
Paragraph 6 is offensive! States no proof of signs being hung but that academic paper states they found 2 instances in the NYT classifieds, If 2 classifieds were found, to believe not one single sign was hung on a window is ridiculous no I mean stupid and offensive. Not to argue with Jensen’s paper but you can site David Duke and many anti Holocaust papers so what’s your point. Also as common sense it happened in Canada but we were spared? Come on! To say it was maybe anti catholic not anti Irish, you want to split hairs. How about the cartoons of the day characterizing the Irish with monkey attributes? The caring concerned Protestants (sited in Jensen’s article) building factory’s for the Irish to work in and hiring Irish women as domestic help as some kind of proof against discrimination is way off. I want to go to the slavery section and see how your twisted mind glorifies that! I guess the Irish were lucky to be able to build the railroad with the Chinese and compete with the Negro’s for jobs. This section needs a big RED FLAG!!! In closing when this encyclopedia starts saying the Holocaust never happened and slavery helped the blacks that is when it looses all credibility not just most!
One paper is not scholarship!! You stupid ignorant fools!!
Don't be daft! Only a VERY small/miniscule section of the Irish community in the US gave funds to the IRA. Are we going to have a whole section about the KKK on the Protestant article? Superdude99 12:09, 8 April 2006 (UTC)
Let's not confuse racism with xenophobia. Xenophobia is a fear of foriegn nationals; racism is hate toward a racial group such as blacks or asians. Most Irish-Americans who support/supported the efforts of revolutionaries in Northern Ireland are not RACIST toward the English. There's a difference between arbitrarily hating an ethnic group and being upset with a political situation. Whether you view Irish nationals as terrorists or revolutionaries is fairly subjective.
With regard to the funding of the PIRA I have no idea as to the number of America who carried out this activity. However I do know that enough money was donated by Americans to fund the PIRA's attacks on British civilians for decades. The objection I have is the belittling of this funding by some people posting. If we turn the issue around and take a hypothetical example would Americas think it not worthy of mentioning that for a small percentage of UK citizens were funding a hypothetical terrorist group conducting and armed campaign agaist US citizens? The PIRA is reponsible for the murder of thousands of people in Northan Ireland and on the UK mainland and I find it insulting that anyone thinks that funding the murder of this number of people is not worth mentioning. This begs the question when Americans were funding the PIRA did they know what they were paying for (i.e murder) or were they just duped by angents of the PIRA .Out of intrest if the former is true how were those people treated by wider American society?(81.159.56.4 17:40, 4 June 2006 (UTC))
I have requested that this page be protected to deal with the constant reverting between Lapsed Pacifist and 64.109.253.204. Deltabeignet 18:50, 11 July 2005 (UTC)
"More than 5% of all Americans are Irish Protestant, and a little less than 5% of all Americans are Irish Catholic.": says Andrew Greeley, the leading expert. (Encyclopedia of the Irish in America p1). Greeley is a famous sociologist and expert demographer (as well as being a priest and novelist.) I have added a comprehensive scholarly bibliography. Rjensen 02:07, 25 November 2005 (UTC)
A serious article needs a serious bibliography, which I have provided. The scholars themselves write on either the Catholics or the Protestants and so it should be divided that way for the convenience of the Wiki users. Rjensen 21:20, 3 January 2006 (UTC)
The second paragraph, that hass been re-added, needs to be cited by a legt source within the next couple of days else it be reomoved. It has to be one of the worst POV i have yet to see, becides that i seriously doubt that any legit sociologist or irish history scholar would make such broad and subjective statements. Whiter then white, was is that supposed to mean, "discrimination and prejudice they encountered" yes their were portions of this ethnic group that did endure that that can not be said for all of them, espically in a way to say that they are denial of it, once agin, was is that supposed to mean. Basically in other words the paragraph is tripe. --Boothy443 | trácht ar 06:28, 8 March 2006 (UTC)
This might start a revert war...but I changed "Scots-Irish" to "Scotch-Irish". In the United States (which this article is about), the latter term is more commonly used, including by people of "Scotch-Irish" descent themselves. Even a Google search gives 6,100,000 hits for "Scotch Irish" and only 382,000 hits for "Scots Irish".--JW1805 (Talk) 22:10, 10 March 2006 (UTC)
The article says that Scots-Irish are such due to intermingling because of the proximity of Ulster and Scotland. Here's me thinking it was because of Scottish/Northern English settlements in Ulster giving rise to a class of people called Scots-Irish/Ulster-Scots. Is this not the case? Enzedbrit 20:43, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
The Scots don't like being called "Scotch". That's whisky. Millbanks 21:57, 23 April 2007 (UTC)
This section is getting a bit long and breaks up the page to much. Might be about the time where it gets cut out, turned into it's own page and what's on this page is a mention of Irish neighborhoods in the States, how they came to be with a link to the new page. Interested to hear thoughts.--Looper5920 05:36, 23 March 2006 (UTC)
Upon close reading that paragraph regarding the supposedly fictitious bias against the Irish, I think it may have limited itself excessively to get the results it wanted. I own a sign I bought in New York saying "Irish Need Not Apply", and I believe that was the most common wording of the phrase as used by business. Now, I must say that I'm open to the fact that it could be true that no such prejudice existed, but I'd just like to mention that it is possible the study itself was too narrow and, therefore, flawed.
I am from Ireland and have lived in Ireland for 90 percent of my life. A lot of my family moved to the USA between 1960 and 1980. They never told me about No Irish need apply, but my uncle who moved to England told me that in the 60s he seen signs saying, "no blacks, no dogs, no Irish".
Unfortunately your uncle was right. But it's a pleasant surprise that most Irish people enjoyed their time in England for all that, and contributed a very significant amount to that country, as they did to the USA. Incidentally, things were, and to some extent remain, quite fraught in Scotland in that respect. Not much cosy Celtic bonding there. Bill Tegner 09:16, 10 March 2007 (UTC)
Mr. Richard Jensen, even though you don't believe no irish need apply signs were ever around, it's obvious that if you were hiring in that time, you would put up a "No Irish Need Apply" sign. 75.3.4.54 04:44, 7 May 2006 (UTC)
It's just daft to state "However, computerized searches through hundreds of thousands of pages of newspapers have so far turned up only one such newspaper ad," because you can't search most pre-1992 newspapers digitally. Furthermore, ads aren't usually included in digital storage. Further still, these NINA signs were placed in shop and factory windows, not in newspaper advertisements. I'm removing.
Licht to see the detailed analysis. Rjensen 23:34, 4 July 2006 (UTC)
I tagged the NINA section as being pov, thoigh it is more bised then POV. It is slanted towards the pov of of one usere, though that while he has written a research paper on, he basiclay uses it as noting more then a spring board disprove the idea and direct users to his research on the subject. The user has slo constantly reverted changes to his wording that would possibly de-pov the current stsement, including the remove of a pov tag that i placed, in perferencr of his pov/promotion of his research paper. --Boothy443 | trácht ar 06:47, 29 March 2006 (UTC)
All right! If everybody has to fight about this article so be it! I wanted to creat a new discussion topic but either can't be done or not smart enough. Very real problems with this articale. I am one of those plastic irish, not born there, also both grand mamas german both granddads Irish and with the ethnic sensitivity this clearly demonstrates everybody knows flynn or murphy clearly f##$$#$ german (joke).If this article does not improve it should be deleted. It is offensive. Scots-Irish did much to contribute to the US but to follow that with a pergoretive(?) about Catholics is very offensive. this is not an article that would be in any traditional encylopedia. many people have contributed important input to the this. rjennsen needs to stop contributating to this resource. Why? because he uses his credentials like what he say's is how it was. why he argues with people who in general would be english or lit majors shows he is nothing more than a bullie! as a scientist he needs to work on peer review. Scientific metheod(?) are you afraid to talk to academics? i think so. I will admit that rjennson has contributed but he both has a slant and opinions he presents as fact. I barely made it thru HS but even I know self "siting" is just wrong! now he does state it was reviewed and published in a prestigious periodical. fine! don't site youreself you ass! site the people who you refer to! come on! But sad to say it is not just rj. this article is very very bad by any standard. some questions of fact are disputuble and others are just overly offensive!! Good Luck!!!
Someone has complained that I cited my own scholarly article in the Journal of Social History--it is a well-known peer reviewed journal. The article was reviewed by about 20 specialists in ethnic and Irish-American history. Citing it follows the Wiki Guidelines:
If you have an idea that you think should become part of the corpus of knowledge that is Wikipedia, the best approach is to arrange to have your results published in a peer-reviewed journal or reputable news outlet, and then document your work in an appropriately non-partisan manner.
The article is online and has links to many original sources dealing with 19th century Irish American history.. I hope people find it useful. If they find it provocative--well, the Irish have long been known for being provocative. [Incidentally: I am not Irish but I attended Irish Catholic schools, and married into an Irish Catholic family.] Rjensen 06:17, 22 April 2006 (UTC)
If you simply want your essay cited as a source of information, add it to the links at the bottom of the article. Wikipedia is not a place to espouse your particular controversial views, they are a place for general information. Your section is out of place unless it presents both for and against arguments about the subject of discrimination against Irish-Americans. Xombie 23:02, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
We have exit polls for Irish Catholic voters in Presidential elections, in large states. See George Martin, The American Catholic Voter (2004) for data. For example in 1980 Reagan (who won 51% of the national vote) won 53% among Irish-Catholics in New York state, 64% in California, and 65% in Texas. Kerry (who is Catholic) lost the Irish Catholic vote in 2004 to Bush (who is Methodist). I have seen only a few polls for state races, for example in 1998 when D'Amato (R) lost his senate seat in New York, D'Amato carried 66% of the Italian vote and 63% of the Irish Catholic vote. If someone has more polls for statewide races please share them. Also of value is Prendergast, William B. The Catholic Voter in American Politics: The Passing of the Democratic Monolith (1999), which has many pages on the Irish, and emphasizes that they are split 50-50, with the more religiously devout being more Republican. Rjensen 23:44, 6 May 2006 (UTC)
California, Texas? Those people weren't Irish Catholics. They might have had some Irish ancestry, but they weren't true Irish Catholics for the most part. You have no information on whether these polls were conducted to people 100% Irish or how many people. You also are talking about Texas, with a very small Irish Catholic population, which means most of the people polled were not actually Irish Catholic.
You are also talking about presidential elections which are different from local politics.
And why do you want to mention Ed Gillespie and not the so many more Irish that have been chairman of the DNC?
Get polls from Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore of people that are 100% Irish Catholic. Trust me, the Irish Catholics in Baltimore didn't split 50-50 when voting for Martin O'Malley.
Also many of the pro life leaders in the Democratic party are Irish Catholic. Why don't you want to mention that or any of this?
Get your klan shit out of wikipedia.75.3.4.54 04:38, 7 May 2006 (UTC)
Jensen, get your facts straight, Gillispie is no longer the Republican party chairman.
Also, are you stupid enough to believe that only 50% of Irish Catholics voted for Martin O'Malley? 75.3.4.54 05:17, 7 May 2006 (UTC)
The fact is that the polls you want to include are biased. I don't need to get new polls from those areas I mentioned, if those areas were included into your poll, then that makes your poll unreliable.
Also, there are more elections than presidential elections. National politics is much different from local politics. If your poll only is about presidential elections, then it is unreliable.
You aren't smart enough to know that most Irish Catholics voted for Martin O'Malley? 75.3.4.54 05:23, 7 May 2006 (UTC)
By your logic, Ed Koch is a republican because he voted for George W. Bush. 75.3.4.54 05:26, 7 May 2006 (UTC)
Rjensen 07:19, 7 May 2006 (UTC)
Richard Jensen, the poll you are promoting only includes presidential elections. It does not included local elections, which makes it unreliable. Saying Irish vote 50-50 is a false statement, because it is only data from presidential elections. The poll is unreliable, do not include it in the article because the poll did not include all elections and you have provided 0 information on whether they only polled 100% Irish Catholics who people who just claimed some Irish heritage. 75.3.4.54 18:13, 7 May 2006 (UTC)
Surely there's a problem here. And it's a very simple one. "What is the definition of an Irish Catholic?". How on earth can you judge how "Irish Catholics" vote(d) without a clear definition? In Ireland you are asked your ethnicity (eg "White Irish", "White Irish Traveller", "White Other", etc) on the census form . Are you asked that in USA? And there's a question on religion, too (Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland, etc.). That makes quite straightforward to identify a (genuine) Irish Catholic and relatively easy to assess how Catholics vote. It seems fairly clear that the majority of Irish Catholics in the South voted for either Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael, and in the North for Sinn Fein (with the SDLP as second choice). Bill Tegner 18:03, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
Here's a summary of CNN exit polls by religion: (from a Republican source)American Spectator According to CNN's exit poll data, 27% of those who voted on Tuesday were Catholic, which equated to roughly 31 million of 115 million voters. How these Catholics voted is striking: They voted for Bush over Kerry by 51 to 48%. In other words, they mirrored the popular vote to the exact number.
Kerry lost the Catholic vote to Bush by at least a million. A Catholic with a major party nomination should have won the Catholic vote by several million. Another Democratic senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy, once won an extremely close election because he overwhelmingly took the Catholic vote.
The numbers diverge more sharply when one considers devout Catholics compared to those who find their way to church only for weddings and Christmas. Catholics who attend Mass weekly voted for Bush by 55% to 44%.
The breakdown among states is most interesting. Bush remained close to Kerry in Pennsylvania, a state with millions of pro-life Catholic Democrats, which went for Kerry 52 to 48%, because he carried Catholics who go to Mass weekly by 52 to 48%. In New Hampshire, which barely went for Kerry, Bush took Catholics who attend Mass weekly by 63 to 35%.
Most impressive, Catholics played a key role in Florida and Ohio. In Florida, they comprised 28% of voters, and went for Bush 57 to 42%. In Ohio, they made up 26% and went to Bush 55 to 44%. The margin was even wider for Catholics who attend Mass weekly: In Florida, they went to Bush by almost two to one, 66 to 34%, and in Ohio they supported Bush by 65 to 35%.
...The Catholic vote kept Bush competitive in the liberal East, where the 41% of voters who are Catholic went for the Protestant president by 52 to 47%, and those who attend Mass weekly supported him by 56 to 42%. Bush actually won the Catholic vote in New York by 51 to 48%. Those Catholics were offset by the 12% of New Yorkers who claimed no religion at all; these atheists eagerly voted for Kerry by 78 to 19%. Kerry actually almost lost the Catholic vote in his own liberal home state of Massachusetts, where Catholics gave him the nod by a paltry 50 to 49%. Rjensen 07:26, 7 May 2006 (UTC)
The presidental election is just one election. Your poll is proven unreliable because you don't how any numbers on other elections. Do not continue to put the poll in, and don't do it without stating all the facts, and not just the facts as you want them. 75.3.4.54 18:15, 7 May 2006 (UTC)
Depending on a poll from one election to determine how a group of people have voted for 36 years is insane.75.3.4.54
You think that one poll from one election of people from California and Texas that claim Irish heritage can determine how a group has voted in every election for 36 years? No one can seriously think that is a reliable source. 75.3.4.54 18:28, 7 May 2006 (UTC)
Respond to this Boothy and Richard Jensen or don't try to put the poll back in ever again. 22:17, 7 May 2006 (UTC)
Although it is a source, I have proven it is an unreliable one. Also, the statement "Since 1968 they split 50-50." is unsourced, it is put in there as the personal opinion of Richard Jensen. As I said many times, the poll Jensen refers to only has some election results and no information on whether the people polled were fully Irish or not. You cannot generalize that based only a few people polled in a few elections, and we have no information on if the people polled were actually Irish.
Sure, it is a source, but it is a bad source, and we should not accomodate bad sources. I am going to remove it again, and I hope you finally understand why and post on here that it doesn't belong. 75.3.4.54 03:34, 8 May 2006 (UTC)
I don't need any numbers. The poll Richard Jensen is promoting is the poll that doesn't have all the numbers. I don't want to put a poll on the page, Richard Jensen is trying to put in a poll and make claims based on it without enough information. 75.3.4.54 03:41, 8 May 2006 (UTC)
Just because someone has a source, doesn't mean we have to use it. I have pointed out where Richard Jensen's poll fails. You must just be ignoring it. We don't even know who was polled in Richard Jensen's poll, he hasn't provided that information. He is just making claims and using one election to base it on and with a poll of unknown people. We don't know if the people polled were male or female, we don't even know if they were black or white. 75.3.4.54 03:57, 8 May 2006 (UTC)
It is a much better idea to just leave something out of an article is the only source is very unreliable. Why do you disagree? 75.3.4.54 04:03, 8 May 2006 (UTC)
I have no reason to provide data. I am asking this poll to present it's data. The thing is, this poll didn't record important data, making it unreliable. 75.3.4.54 20:08, 8 May 2006 (UTC)
:So if you know this poll so well why dont you lay out the poll for us and show us exaclty where you dissagree. --Boothy443 | trácht ar 04:50, 9 May 2006 (UTC)
If a new poll were to be conducted, and polled the same number of people as RJensen's poll, but this poll was for Irish Catholics that voted for Martin O'Malley. Let's say, 100% of the people polled say they voted for him. Then can we make the assertion that 100% of Irish Catholics vote Democratic in local elections? It would be the same exact situation that RJensen is presenting. 75.3.4.54 18:54, 7 May 2006 (UTC)
How is it not? Richard Jensen is just using one poll from one election. Explain how it would not be the same situation. 75.3.4.54 22:10, 7 May 2006 (UTC)
The poll should stay out of the article because I have proven it unreliable and no one can counter it. 75.3.4.54 22:10, 7 May 2006 (UTC)
That is a horrible source. It didn't include all house races. Just the stuff the national media follows. 75.3.4.54 01:49, 17 May 2006 (UTC)
No, it does not show all the house races. It just grouped all the Midwest house races into one poll. That is worthless. 75.3.4.54 03:28, 17 May 2006 (UTC)
This section doesn't seem reliable. I have never in my time heard of Irish Catholics in the South being "widely excepted." To my knowledge, their ancestry and religion was indeed of importance in the South, and there are numerous recorded cases of violence in the South against the Irish even into the 20th Century. This section seems like it is derived from some obscure pro-South "historian" who is trying to paint the Irish in the 19th Century as slave drivers and the Southerners of the 19th century as friendly and excepting of the Irish. None of this is historically accurate. I understand that some people have an agenda against the Irish's history of discrimination. I understand that many would like to rewrite history to make it seem like the Irish were never discriminated against in America. I also understand that you people feel it is too "liberal" or "extreme" to say the Irish were ever discriminated against. You cannot wrap your minds around the idea. Or maybe you are ashamed of your past and wish to make the Irish the slave drivers instead of the Anglos. Whatever the case may be, it is historically inaccurate. Anyone who has any knowledge of Southern history would know Irish Catholics were not treated as fellow "good ol' boys" in the South. They were in most cases treated as drunkard Papist immigrants. I'm not saying there is no truth to the South section. I'm sure there was a very small group of Irish in the South that supported slavery and maybe were treated equal. But this group had to be very small, and the section in the article makes it seem as if all Irish in the South were instantly accepted by Southern society.
Here are the main reviews--all favorable -- by scholars of Gleeson's book on Catholic Irish in South: (some of these are online:)
Here's the full text of the H-Net review online at review by Mark I. Greenberg , University of South Florida, Tampa. Published by: H-South (November, 2002) Scarlett O'Hara and the Blarney Stone For author David Gleeson, Gone with the Wind offers insight into Irish immigration to the nineteenth-century South. "The ease with which the public accepted the Irish immigrant and [Gerald O'Hara's] fictional family as 'true' southerners emphasizes just how well the Irish had blended into the native population," he notes in the book's final paragraph (p. 194). By the 1930s, the Irish had become the region's "forgotten" people. How Irish immigrants to the South went from outsiders to "forgotten" in a century forms a central theme in Gleeson's thought-provoking study, and it raises important issues in southern and immigrant/ethnic history. The white South's ethnic composition has received limited study, and immigrant/ethnic scholars have missed opportunities to address regional distinctiveness, he asserts. The Irish in the South seeks to bridge these two literatures by adding an ethnic dimension to southern history and a southern dimension to American ethnic history.
Contrasting the "forgotten" theme, Gleeson devotes considerable attention to Irish ethnic institutions and awareness. "It would not have been surprising if the Irish in the South, under pressure from a dominant Protestant majority, had jettisoned their diasporic baggage and sacrificed their Irishness for native acceptance. They did not, however, commit cultural suicide," he writes (p. 22). Instead, he notes countless examples of how the Irish exhibited a cultural heritage, used it to their advantage, diverged from contemporary ethnic stereotypes, and integrated into the non-Irish community. Like many ethnic studies, the book begins with a familiar discussion of "push/pull" factors and migration patterns. Many Irish immigrants that came south landed first in a northern port, read of economic opportunities in the press, and moved southward in search of work. Overwhelmingly an agrarian population in Ireland, the Irish in America eschewed rural life. Unfamiliar with a cash crop economy, lacking capital, and fearing physical isolation and continued destitution, they settled overwhelmingly in towns and cities. At most 2 percent of the Confederate states' white population, the Irish urban presence exceeded 20 percent in 1860 Savannah and over 14 percent in Charleston, Mobile, and New Orleans.
Seeking to give Irish workers agency in their economic lives and prove that they were "not victims of urbanization" (p. 37), Gleeson argues that Irish occupational status varied more widely than nineteenth-century observers revealed. "Despite an Irish presence in every sector of the urban workforce," he concedes "monotonous physical labor was the norm for the largest group of Irish workers" (p. 46). Premature mortality, yellow fever, and cholera placed great stress on almshouses. Crime, alcoholism, and violence further disrupted earning power and stable family life. Short discussions of an 1844 Memphis strike for a ten-hour day and unionism in New Orleans offer only slim support for the author's argument that the Irish were not "pliable victims of the southern economy" (p. 51). Largely missing from his discussions is slavery's impact on Irish economic life, patterns and methods of upward mobility over time or between generations, Irish labor networks, loan organizations, and other collaborative efforts. Residential clustering, marriage, social and benevolent organizations, militia companies, and political activism for Irish home rule support Gleeson's assertion that the Irish exhibited an ethnic identity in the South. Faith in God offered cultural stability as well. Ulster immigrants established Presbyterian churches and Catholics gave Roman Catholicism a distinctly Irish tinge. After slow institutional development in the early 1800s and opposition to the predominantly French clerical leadership of the Early National Period, Irish Catholics successfully appealed to Rome for new sees in Virginia and South Carolina. Charleston's Irish bishops, John England and his successor Patrick N. Lynch, argued for the compatibility of Catholicism and republicanism, supported slavery, and worked to limit anti-Catholic sentiment among the overwhelmingly Protestant population. Lay leadership, changes in religious belief and practices over time, what role the Church played in the secession crisis of the 1850s, relations between northern and southern dioceses over slavery and secession, and interaction between Irish Presbyterians and Catholics receive little attention in these pages. The Democratic Party actively courted Irish voters and played up Whigs' nativism, according to the author. The Irish responded by serving as the backbone of Democratic support in several southern towns. Though Irish immigrant politicians were relatively few in number, many more emigrants from the Emerald Isle organized on behalf of candidates and party policies. Returning to his theme of assimilation and acceptance, Gleeson contends that Irish immigrants' ability to sway close elections was "a major symbol of their integration into southern society" (p. 94).
Though Irish immigrants took the Know Nothing threat quite seriously, their acceptance into southern society faced little real challenge from the party, Gleeson asserts. Checking slavery's expansion and preserving the Union, more than nativism, drew southern supporters to the Democrats' chief political rival in the mid 1850s. Strongest in the cities where immigrants concentrated, the Know Nothings inflamed the population with their anti-Irish sentiment and elected mayors and council members in several cities. Tarred with an abolitionist label, the American Party's successes were short-lived, and by 1856 Irish voters had helped to oust its politicians everywhere except in New Orleans.
Irish interactions with slaves and free blacks and reactions to the secession crisis--covered in just twenty pages--form some of the most interesting but least developed material in the book. Irish immigrants' "white skin and their acceptance of slavery automatically elevated them from the bottom of southern society," Gleeson argues, and thus "they did not have to 'become white' but immediately exploited the advantages their race accorded them" (p. 121). Explicitly rejecting all "whiteness studies" for perceived weaknesses in the work of Noel Ignatiev and David Roediger, the author misses opportunities to address the complex relationship between race, class, and social status in the nineteenth-century South. He argues unpersuasively that acceptance came in part because native southerners "appreciated the economic value of Irish laborers" because "the Irish were willing to take on potentially high-mortality occupations, thereby sparing valuable slave property" (p. 193). In addressing how an overwhelmingly non-slaveholding Irish population went from solid Unionists in 1850 to secessionists by 1860, Gleeson offers several suggestions but limited depth. Seeking to show that Irish immigrants' integration into southern white society guided their political views on the crisis, he briefly mentions allegiance to the Democrats, proslavery sentiment, support for the "southern way of life," Church-demanded loyalty to existing institutions, and perceived similarities between Ireland's and the South's political positions. This last idea he explores in just one paragraph and references a single 1858 newspaper article.
Factors propelling the Irish to support secession moved them to "volunteer in droves" for Confederate military service, because they "believed in the southern cause" (p. 155). Forming ethnic companies, carousing in camp, and usually fighting with ferocity in battle, Irish soldiers also deserted in relatively larger numbers than native-born whites. On the home front, some Irish immigrants likened Union occupation of the South to British occupation of their native lands and sacrificed for the war effort. Others complained bitterly about new hardships and rioted for bread. When Union soldiers entered New Orleans in April 1862--just a year into the war--"many Irish New Orleanians were not too distressed" (p. 168). Slaves' emancipation and long-held fears of job competition drove angry Irish immigrants to violent repression of freedmen's newfound economic and political rights. With the key to their status abolished at war's end, thousands of Irish workers gave up on southern cities and left the region.
Just how "southern" Irish immigrants became remains unproven by book's end. Though Gleeson argues that the Irish "completed their integration into southern society" by 1877 (p. 173), he never defines the term and often uses "southern" interchangeably with "American" to describe the same actions and attitudes. What does it mean to be a southerner in 1815, 1850, the 1860s, or 1877? Is it more than support for slavery, states' rights, the Confederacy, and black codes? The author offers few if any regional comparisons of occupational structure, ethnic institutions, family life, residential patterns, and other topics regularly addressed by ethnic historians and found in the rich "southern distinctiveness" literature. These omissions prevent him from assessing whether "southerness" extended beyond conformity to pressing political issues.
Moreover, Gleeson provides weak analysis of the processes guiding immigrant acculturation and ethnic identity formation. Scholars such as Kathleen Conzen, Ewa Morawska, George Pozzetta, Rudolph Vecoli, and others have advanced sophisticated models that account for an uneven course influenced by stimuli internal and external to the immigrant community. To argue that Irish immigrants were "more southern and less Irish" (p. 186) in 1877 than 1815 overlooks a generation of scholarship and misses opportunities to explore how specific moments in time, such as a war, can affect identity and how a cessation of hostilities often relieves pressures on conformity. Rather than explaining how Irish immigrants had become "less Irish" in 1877, Gleeson could have offered insight into the shifting and multiple meanings of Irishness over time.
For Scarlett O'Hara and other southerners of Irish heritage, Old World and New World identities were not incompatible. In every generation, Americans of all backgrounds have held multiple, shifting identities. If by the 1930s the Irish became a forgotten people in the South, historians lost them. David Gleeson is to be commended for recognizing the important history and roles Irish immigrants played. Rjensen 15:31, 9 May 2006 (UTC)
How can we take Richard Jensen seriously when from time to time he does try to vandalize this article? Jensen removed a paragraph without any explanation. This isn't the first time he has done something like this. It is quite obvious that Richard Jensen has anti-Irish and anti-Catholic beliefs and it is shown through his attempts at vandalizing this article. 75.3.4.54 19:42, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
This is the same txt that as added by jensen, , in which the above user accuses him of removing txt, which did not happen, in both the above statement and in the edit summary, "adding back in what RJensen took out for no explained reason". And then the user accused me of mistorting the truth, first in demanding an Apology, [ http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3ABoothy443&diff=55197068&oldid=54270234], and then saing that i got it wrong, , the user then attempted to cover up his fase statement by removing my statement, , and then removing this section . Other then that i think it is clear that this user can hardl be taken seriousl, not that i have anyway, and should basicaly be considered a vandal. --Boothy443 | trácht ar 06:13, 26 May 2006 (UTC)"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"
Boothy, the vandalism I have been referring to happened a while ago. You are only looking at a recent edit of Jensen's which is not what I meant by his vandalism. You continue to refer to that edit as what I meant is you lying. So yes, you are lying because you are claiming I am referring to an edit which I did not refer to. 75.3.15.49 17:17, 27 May 2006 (UTC)
Also, Boothy, please see this most recent edit by Jensen, [] and then tell me he isn't guilty of vandalism. 75.3.15.49 17:18, 27 May 2006 (UTC)
Can the person who wrote the following sentence, or who knows what it means, rewrite it, or explain to me what it means, and why it's a good introduction to the section on 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." I'm not asking a trick question, I sincerely don't understand the connection between the two clauses. I was about to place the bit about policemen and firefighters elsewhere, but thought I should ask first. --Cultural Freedom talk 08:26, 14 June 2006 (UTC)
"between Irish and native American work teams competing for construction jobs" Can someone please clarify to whom native American refers. Are they talking about the Native American inhabitants who have lived in North America for the last few thousand years or does it simply refer to those people who were born in the United States of America.
The so-called Scots-Irish weren't all that Scots-Irish at all. Recent research in Ireland has put the Scots-Irish element to about 33%, Anglo Irish (mixed English-Irish and Protestant) to about 33%, and old Gaelic Irish (who were Catholic) to about 33%. Almost all of the old Gaelic Irish adopted the local Christian religion on settlement in America, which was Protestant. So a lot of the Scots-Irish thing is myth and definitely overblown. Eagleston 11:15, 5 August 2006 (UTC)
I removed some stuff, which seems to be just unsourced opinion. Also, it makes the second paragraph too long for reader comfort. Eagleston 22:42, 5 August 2006 (UTC)
I removed "...; very few became farmers" from the section "Sense of Heritage" for a few reasons; it is unsupported by a reference, it is largely irrelevant, and it fails to take into account the Irish emmigres arriving prior to 1844-45. Quite minor Vulvabogwadins 03:33, 11 August 2006 (UTC)
there already was a fairly large irish catholic population since colonial times in the united states
Hello all. I've added a list of the 16 Presidents of definite Irish ancestry. I was surprised to see this wasn't included before, but hey. I was tempted to mention that Reagan would have been the second Roman Catholic president (his father was Catholic) but thought this would just have sounded unnecessarily partisan. Of the 20th century presidents he, after Kennedy of course, took most pride in his Irish origins. Let me know if you think it's interesting enough to include this. He was raised in his mother's denomination instead. Best, Iamlondon 23:49, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
I had a feeling that Reagan needed a genealogist to help him find that he had a great grandfather from Ireland, and then used it as a vote winner: "I am Irish". So perhaps that pride came to him late in life. I wonder where his other forebears came from and why he wasn't quite so proud of their origins. Bill Tegner 14:59, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
What is a "fucking list"? Bill Tegner 18:11, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
I haven't had the pleasure or privilege of studying the genealogy of Irish Presidents, but I thought I'd read that Bill Clinton, for all his posturings, had not been able to establish any definite Irish ancestry. Can anyone enlighten me? Incidentally one Wikipedia entry says that Margaret Thatcher has Irish blood too. She certainly never mentioned it. Bill Tegner 09:24, 10 March 2007 (UTC)
FYI - Carter, Johnson, Nixon, Clinton ALL had very obvious Irish and Scots-Irish ancestry which has never been disputed. For the BUSH FAMILY - not only descended from one of the most famous Norman-Irish Catholic families of irish history (the De Clares) - are also descended from Demt McMurrough, an equally notorious Irish family. "The genetic line can also be traced to Dermot MacMurrough, the Gaelic king of Leinster reviled in history books as the man who sold Ireland for personal gain." (GUARDIAN , DUBLIN. Friday, Jan 28, 2005,Page 6). End of story.Iamlondon 11:52, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
I dispute Clinton's Irish ancestry. I know he says he "feels more Irish every day", and "I look Irish, I feel Irish and by God I am Irish", but that doesn't make him Irish. Perhaps you can succeed where he failed and prove it. And then you can join him in a nice little pub somewhere in Ireland and be photographed enjoying a pint of Guinness with him in the village his ancestors came from. If he has time after that, he can go to the equivalent in the countries his other forebears came from. You could, for example, be photographed buying him a pint of Fuller's London Pride. When you've done that, you could do similar work on Jimmy Carter. As I've mentioned elsewhere, a Plastic Paddy from Chicago once referred to him as "an Englishman". He's not. He's American. Like Bill Clinton. Bill Tegner 20:42, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
Revert - someone decided to edit the list to make a sectarian point regarding the religious affiliation of the Presidents. That is both irrelevant to the substance of this article and flagrantly sectarian. Please keep an eye on this to ensure it doesn't happen again. Thanks, Iamlondon 20:03, 15 October 2006 (UTC)
I recently removed the sentence in the "Sense of heritage" section of the article that alluded to Irish-Americans funding the PIRA. I don't believe this should be re-inserted without proper citations. hoopydinkConas tá tú? 23:55, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
Of the Irish American's that are aware of the Northern Ireland troubles I'd say that more than 75% are nationlist and republican (not compared to Democratic). But the vast majority of today's Irish youth has no knowledge of Belfast and the fighting. In my hometown of Reading, a suburb of Boston, pro-Irish slogons are evident on shops even though the town is a wealthy middle class town.
In contrast, where I live the vast majority of the Irish youth have at least some knowldge of Belfast and the fighting (hopefully now finished), though they don't seem that interested. But there are no pro-Irish slogans on shops, unless you count Super Valu's (correct) claim to be absolutely Irish. That could be because I live in Ireland Millbanks 23:03, 12 June 2007 (UTC)
Yes, pro-republican
Well, the ignorance of "Irish" Americans about Northern Ireland is legendary, but I can't see that the fact that "Reading....is a wealthy middle class town" makes any difference in that respect. As a matter of interest, what do the "pro-Irish slogans" in (?on) shops say? Bill Tegner 19:16, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
I see that "terrorist" has been turned back into "paramilitary" again. Sorry, but the IRA *were* terrorists. The fact that they received a great deal of funding from sympathisers in the USA doesn't alter that, however unpalatable it may seem. 213.132.48.105 11:01, 21 July 2007 (UTC)
should there be a section on attitudes in Ireland towards Irish-Americans, and the nature of the relationship between the two? Almost everyone from Ireland i've ever spoken to about it thinks its amusing when someone from boston or new york calls themself 'Irish'. Musungu jim 04:10, 14 October 2006 (UTC)
Why is there no mention on Wikipedia of the widespread use of Irish slaves in the Americas during the 17th century? It seems as if the atrocities against the Irish have been glossed over and forgotten, perhaps due to our affiliation with the British over the years?
This subject deserves mention somewhere, or perhaps on its own page. I am not a historian or particularly knowledgable but ask that people who are share their knowledge on the subject. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.255.240.130 (talk • contribs) (02:06, 25 October 2006)
This piece should be merged with the more accurately titled, "Presidents of Irish Descent". Just because a President of the USA has some Irish forebears it does not make him an Irish President. We already have our own President here in Ireland, and it's Mary McAleese, not George W Bush Millbanks 14:51, 27 May 2007 (UTC)
Someone keeps deleting that George Bush and George W. Bush having Irish ancestory, I wrote that Jefferson Davis had Irish ancestory because he did no one should delete these things.
Hi. Please sign your posts...makes it easier to contact you. Yes, some person keeps doing this. I've asked that others keep an eye out for it as it's total nonsense so delete historical fact - the Bushs are descended from Dermot McMurrough, King of Leinster.Iamlondon 13:26, 4 November 2006 (UTC)
This section states that ".....since Kennedy took office in 1961 every President bar one, Gerald Ford, has had Irish blood." Ford's original given name was Leslie Lynch King (he later changed it), and I wonder if his middle name, Lynch, doesn't indicate some possible Irish heritage. If anyone has an information to confirm or dismiss this possibility, I'd be curious to learn of it. Thanks very much.
What on earth does it matter whether Ford did or didn't have Irish blood? Would it make him a different person if he did? Or have I missed out on some abstruse ethnic (? racist) theorising?Bill Tegner 09:14, 13 March 2007 (UTC)
Sorry to be a spoiler, but I think I'm right in saying that Bill Clinton can't prove Irish descent, try though he may. Does "feeling more and more Irish every day" make him Irish American? Perhaps. I'm told that you don't have to have Irish ancestry to qualify, and in any event he was voted Irish American of the Year. As for Nixon, he managed to find an eighteenth century Irish Quaker called Milhous in the north of Ireland, and duly visited his grave, but I don't think even the Plastic Paddies were too impressed. Bill Tegner 09:32, 9 March 2007 (UTC)
Interesting that Jimmy Carter's on the list. I heard him referred to by some "Irish" American from Chicago refer to him as "an Englishman" (!). And he went back to find his ancestral homwe in north east England. Bill Tegner 09:40, 9 March 2007 (UTC)
Indeed. Take Hillary Clinton. She is predominantly of English descent. But I'll bet you a cent to a euro she won't use this in her election campaign. Conversely, however, Tony Blair's mother was Irish, and so was the father of Jim Callagan, British Prime Minister 1976-1979. Neither of them ever made much mention of that. Now if they'd been American don't you think they would have done? Millbanks 14:58, 27 May 2007 (UTC)
I've heard of linching of Irish and it was one of the groups that the KKK discrimigrated agains? If this is true why can I find it on wikipedia?
The KKK actually does accepts Irish and Catholics (Not all but most). --CSArebel-- November 14, 2006
Well, the modern KKK most likely. But I doubt the KKKs of yesteryear (i.e. the original and the 1920s revival did. Well, the 20s, maybe, the original, most definitely not.) --Saint-Paddy 00:18, 31 December 2006 (UTC)
Somehow I think they encourage it nowaday's Scroll twice! Nearly choked when I read it Billtheking 21:24, 11 January 2007 (UTC)
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