Economic and Identification: The Irish In America

Generally speaking, March is usually associated with Ireland and the Irish people because of the main holiday of that month, St. Patrick’s Day. With March just passing, and time for my family to get together often in that month, I was able to uncover more details about my family’s story and the story of Irish Immigrants in general when they came to America. Comments on St. Patrick’s Day will occur later when talking about the culture of the Irish in America.

To start, I would like to back track a little bit, and discuss a bit about what the last entry was on, the history of the Irish people and my family. As we remember, there was a massive potato blight in Ireland that devastated the population completely in terms of fatalities (potatoes were the staple crop) and financially. Ireland, who was a part of Great Britain since 1801, thought that the English would help them out by giving them monetary help or supplies to help them feed their families and themselves. However, England and the Anglican Church saw the blight as a sign from God who was punishing the Irish. This explanation originated from the difference the Anglican Church had with the Catholic Church of Ireland. In the census done by English commissioners, the statistics were found that from 1845 to 1850, mortality from the famine grew from 6.4% to 12.8%. This is a large amount of people, however, the commissioner stated back to England that “although the population has been diminished in so remarkable a manner by famine, disease and emigration between 1845 and 1850, and has been since decreasing, the results of the Irish census of 1850 are, on the whole, satisfactory, demonstrating as they do the general advancement of the country.” This conclusion by the English sums up the treatment of the Irish by the English making the exit from Ireland that much easier for people to leave.

Before the famine times, the English has been pushing a set of laws called the Penal Laws on the Irish people. The Penal Laws, created by Irish and English Protestants, regulated Irish Catholicism, even going so far as to make it illegal for groups to meet and practice their Catholic religion, which was the popular religion in Ireland. The exit from Ireland was an easier decision because of the laws forbidding the Irish to practice their religion. Although the treatment of the Irish was brutal while in the country, and caused part of the reason for the exit, the brutality would help with the reception in America soon there after.

This was the cover page to the Penal Laws enacted by the British to stop the Irish from practicing their Catholic Religion.

When Irish immigrants sailed over to America with aspirations of a better life, they were met with hostility. The American reception of the immigrant group was not good at all, and this includes what happened with my family. To start, most of the east coast where the Irish immigrants headed to was of protestant religion. With the Irish being Catholics, this created unneeded tension between the immigrant groups and the people already residing in America. Catholicism would help this immigrant group in the future however with assimilating to America.

When the people of Ireland came over to America, they had virtually nothing. These people had no money, no experience (most were young like my great, great grandparents), and no hope. As well, this immigrant group had no skills for the types of places that they moved to. In Ireland, many people grew up on farms and knew how to work the land, but in America, the Irish were pushed into the cities on the east coast, like Boston and New York.  Many of the Americans did not like the Irish immigrants at this time, which was about the 1850s, and it showed through discriminatory actions and groups that did form against the Irish. Nevertheless, the Irish people were said to have noted that the brutality of the Americans was nothing compared to what they got from England. This could be because they had a more positive outlook, but either way, even though the reception of the Irish immigrants were not very good, they were able to overcome that reception because it was better than being in the shadow of England.

New York City in 1850 where many Irish Immigrants moved to.

Boston in 1850 where many Irish immigrants settled after their cross to America.

When the Irish immigrant group came over to America, the American people in the places where the Irish settled chose the path these people were to take. What this means is that even through what the Irish did, the American people guided the Irish through the path that thought would fit them. In the 1850s, the Americans forced the Irish to be looked at as downwardly assimilating. What this means is that people saw the Irish as crooks, and people who were up to no good and sliding downward. Because of this outlook, American company owners in the cities, along with common people in the places where Irish settled, discriminated against this group. This forced Irish people to find menial jobs in the job market because Americans would not let them apply to good standing jobs. Like my ancestors, they had to get jobs as miners and seamstresses because of the discrimination and their lack of skills from no experience.

Personally speaking, my family has had a different pathway in society from the time they moved here. To start off, the path taken by my family was mostly upward. My family was faced with the discrimination talked about above by the Americans already here, but as time wore on, the next generation was able to over come because my family saved money and used it very sparingly. With that being said, I would say that there is some upward biculturalism assimilation in my family as well. The reason I bring this up is the case with my grandmother. My grandmother was very close with her direct family. Unfortunately, my grandmother never met her extended family because of different reasons, so they existed though stories told through her father. Because of these stories, my grandmother has embraced her Irish roots, and does not leave them behind for the American culture. She brings them both together, which is nice to see.

Generally speaking, the immigrant group of the Irish has mostly assimilated to follow the traditional model of segmented assimilation by embracing the white upper middle class as their own. This goes for Irish families who have generations in America. Generations who have parents who lived in Ireland who now live in the United States would fall under biculturalism from personal experience. This all falls under upward assimilation and can be credited to the communities that were created that helped the Irish, which will be discussed down the road here.

In the travels to America and when finally arriving, most Irish immigrants, including my family, had no human capital. What this means is that they had no money, resources, or skill set that would help them move up the ladder in society. This was a major problem for the Irish. This group lost money and came here with none because of the famine, the costs to cross the ocean, and peddlers in America, who would sell fake products to the Irish because they said they would help with the transition. Because they had no money, the Irish were forced to make their home in cities, cramped in small shacks and apartments. The government was neutral this whole time, not making specific laws against the Irish. It was the upper classes that made the rules about jobs and where the Irish were and were not welcome. They were the ones making the “No Irish Need Apply” signs and hanging them from businesses.

This was a common sign put in the front of companies in the cities.

However, there was some political backlash in the government by a political party that rose up in the 1850s called the Know-Nothing party. This was a nickname for the party, actually titled the American Party, who was known to be a nativist group. The primary goal was to keep power out of the hands of the Catholics. Because of who the Catholics in America were, this party looked to target the Irish. This party did not want the Irish getting involved in politics because the thought it would have corrupted or ruined the government already set in place.

This is a flag with the Know Nothing Party slogan. This group was very Nativist.

Side note, interestingly enough, Irish immigration was not always looked at as a bad thing. When the American economy was doing well, people did not mind the Irish groups coming into America because everything was stable. It was when the economy was bad for Americans that it got bad for the Irish. “In the period between 1855 and 1900 the economy was in recession 45.2% of the time.” Most Irish immigration took place during this time frame, backing up why there is discrimination and dislike for them. This experience for the Irish is comparable to Latinos in the modern day society where popular belief says that this “other” group is taking jobs away from people. To avoid the discrimination that was going on, Irish, because of how they looked (White) changed their names in order to move up the social hierarchy. My family did change our name, but not until later on in the 20^th Century when my grandfather changed the name to Flaherty.

At this point, what has been discussed are more of the negative side of things for this Irish Immigrant group. On the positive side of their move to America, many different factors aided the incorporation into society in America. As touched upon before, community was a huge factor in aiding the transition. Many Irish immigrants got off the boats they came in and moved to major cities like Boston and New York. Here, because of the lack of money and experience, people had to help each other out, which created a nice tight-knit community in these areas. My family mostly settled in or around Boston, a couple in New York. By still living in these two areas, I see for myself that the community is still there, just not as tightly knit.  To this day, places like Dorchester or South Boston, major Irish hubs, will ask what part of Ireland your family is from even just from having a simple conversation.

Going along with these hubs, when people ask where you live in Southie or Dorchester, the Irish usually say where they go to church to signify where their house is near. This brings up the biggest community that helped the Irish immigrants in their transition and that is the Catholic Church. To the Irish, religion was all they carried with them to America. Once in America, the Irish set up churches and these became the center of Irish culture in the transition in America. The church became the place where the Irish felt at home and could relate with everyone around them. Over the years, the church grew into helping the families and different generations to move up. Churches became the education centers and the recreational sports hub, which mixed with American culture, was an aid in helping Irish immigrants and their family becomes more in touch with the American side of things. I was actually the first generation to not go to catholic school for all of my schooling, which just shows how trusting in that system my family has been. What these churches and tight knit communities did was create a stable family structure that was close and would help one another out in a time of need.

The special thing about the time period being talked about so far is that it was all a part of the antebellum period, which is the period of time before a war. In this case, the war coming was the Civil War, which was truly the turning point in the story of the Irish Immigrants in this country. Other wars, like ones with Spain and Mexico would follow the Civil War, but by then, the change had already occurred. By 1861, when the war started, Irish immigrants were numbered by the tens of thousands in America, yet were still being discriminated against because of who they were. When the Civil War began and recruitment started, many American politicians and soldiers in the Union army (Most Irish people settled in the North) thought the Irish would not fight in the war. The reason for this was that they thought the Irish would see free slaves as a threat to the menial jobs they held at that point in time. In fact, it was just the opposite. The Irish took up the Civil War very easily, and in the end, about 40,000 Irish soldiers were sent to battle. These men who went to fight in honor of the country they now loved were mixed into different regiments, and even had regiments of their own, meaning all men consisted of Irish people. If you remember, my great grandfather was a part of the Spanish American War as a part of the regiment called the Fighting Irish. These all Irish Civil War platoons were labeled as the same thing. In battle, these men proudly wore the colors of America, but also the colors of Ireland with them.

This is a painting of the Civil War depicting an Irish regiment. You can see the American Flag flying next to an irish regiment flag showing their nationality and who they were fighting for.

Because of their courage to fight for a cause that either was not theirs or was newly theirs, post-Civil War times were different for the Irish ethnic group. Before the war, society had them all at the bottom of the ladder, not even considering them as white people. However, because of their heroics and bravery in the American Civil War, a change occurred, and those who were Irish began to see the process of becoming an accepted part of American society. In the antebellum period of time and even during the Civil War, the people of Irish descent would have been ethnic hyphenated at this point in time. What this means is that they would identify as Irish American people. Following the war, the Irish finally became white, which is what they are racially seen as today. For the first time in America, due to a massive Civil War in America, the Irish in America were seen as on their way to becoming equals with the whites already there.

Before, I stated that there was a party called the Know-Nothings that targeting the Irish and tried to keep them out of power. However, this did not really stop the Irish from getting involved in politics, an aid of incorporation in America. In New York City, there was a political force movement called Tammany Hall. This political force was aligned with the Democratic Party, but was most known for what historians called urban corruption. What this group did was go after the urban population, and promise to give them help finding jobs and food and a home to raise a family if you are to vote for the candidate of their choosing in Elections. The Irish, who were living in the cities, were the targeted population. Even though they took advantage of the Irish, Tammany Hall was a way in to politics in the eyes of the Irish. Through threats and negation, the Irish were accepted into the force, which led to the Irish political up rise in cities like New York. It started on the smaller scale, like becoming a police officer, but eventually would grow on the national level. The Irish say they made it politically when John F. Kennedy, the first Irish Catholic president took office. This was a sign that the Irish were now being accepted as members of America. People were trusting of the Irish because of all they had gone through.

This was the building that the force of Tammany Hall held their meetings and discussions.

Family Identification

In talking with my family about ethnicity and race, and asking how they identify themselves, it was very interesting to see what their response was. Since I really talked about my mother’s side, I did not ask my father his opinion and kept it to one side. These are the thoughts by my family members on race and ethnic identification.

My sister, Meghan, is 17 years old. When I asked her about what she says when someone asks about race, she mentions that she is white because that is how society defines her and how she sees herself. Meg said that those two together are important, which is interesting because from that response, it is like you cannot choose for yourself. When Meg was asked where she is from and who she is ethnically, she responded by saying she is from a suburb of Boston, and she is American because of who her direct family is, and Irish if you want to know what her extended family is. I thought it was interesting how she answered American, but I can understand where she is coming from because she did mention she didn’t know a lot about our family story, so she could not relate easily.

My other sister, Keira, is 20 years old and is a sophomore at Quinnipiac University where she studies nursing. Her response, compared to my other sister, was a bit different and funny to see the difference. Keira said that racially, she identifies herself as Caucasian, which is funny because she said this compared to saying white.  I think this is because she is in the nursing field and has to fill out all those forms for different sorts of things. When people ask where my sister is from, she responds that she is from Braintree, Massachusetts. What’s funny about Keira is that she doesn’t even bring up that she has Irish heritage because she thinks it is apparent in her looks. Because of this, she feels she doesn’t have to say what her ethnicity is, even though it is Irish.

My mother, Jeanne, wrote out a long paragraph about this and sent it to me, so for her story, I’ll just put the direct quote. My mom said, “I agree with Keira that as a race we are Caucasian because biologically that’s what out genes decide (hair color, eye color, skin color and tendency to develop disease). It’s biological and can’t be changed. Ethnicity is just where you came from and the way of life you learn from that area. If you were born and grew up in Africa because dad’s job made us move, you would have African ethnic customs and traditions. But, racially, you would not be African or Black. So I would say ethnically, I am more Irish than anything seeing that both sides of my family came from Ireland.” These are some interesting points from my mom, and very different from my sisters.

Finally, there is my grandmother, Lillian, who likes to say she is Irish American because her parents were very into their Irish roots. She always loved hearing stories of her family from her parents, and the stories about why her family came to America. What makes my grandmother special is how she keeps the Irish roots around, either in cooking, or the music she plays.

For the four women I asked about identification, they all said different things, which is really cool because it shows how unique people are when it comes to their ethnicity and race. The differences in the sub-groups of my family are different. My grandmother knows a lot, my mom is indifferent, but it is my sisters who are the ones who are interesting to me. They want to go to Ireland more than anything to learn about who they are ethnically. With a trip to Ireland to see the parts where my family is from, I believe they will harness their Irish heritage even more.

Pulling out of family specifics and speaking more generally by reflecting on what my family has said, it is obvious that race and ethnicity play a huge part in incorporation into American society, but it all depends on where it is you come from. It’s easy for people with European descent that add something to the local community and the larger community as a whole to be easily incorporated into society because of their looks mostly. Society is based on the white middle class, which, after the Civil War, the Irish started to become a part of.  The Irish fit into Mary Water’s term of the costless community because she stated there is no cost for assimilation into the society at hand. Through what my family has said, and through the research done, the Irish people are the example of symbolic ethnicity because they as individuals get to choose how they see themselves in the larger culture.

My mom, Jeanne, my dad, John, my sister, Keira, myself, and my sister, Meg. The Flaherty Family

Culture

Culturally, my family is not over the top with the Irish customs, but there are a few that my family does at points. First, at weddings and funerals of out family members, there is always a playing of the villeann pipes, which is the more Irish version of the bagpipe. The sound of bagpipes are one of a kind, and signify where we did come from, and represent those we thank who gave our family the opportunity to live in America. Another family tradition of ours is to play a song at any family gathering when the whole family is there called the Parting Glass. This song was originally a poem, but was turned into a song about family and peace being with each other. My great grandfather used to sing it to his family, and it has stuck ever since.

The pipes played at our weddings and funerals.

Of course, there are holidays that are celebrated by our family because we are Irish. Most Irish people because of the long history of the catholic faith, of course, celebrate Easter. Easter signifies a coming together to celebrate the religion that got them through adversity both in America and in England following the Penal Laws being repealed. Easter is the one of the only holidays where everyone from my mother’s side gets together to celebrate as one. For any other holiday, people go to in-laws houses or on vacation, but Easter is special because everyone comes to one place every year. Because we all don’t get to see one another, it is nice to see everyone at this time.

St. Patrick’s Day Parade with bagpipes.

Finally, there is St. Patrick’s Day, a holiday I have mixed feelings about. This holiday is supposed to be a feast day of St. Patrick, and celebrate the saint of Ireland, but as it has moved through the ages, it has become a holiday of drinking. More importantly, it has become a holiday for everyone. I am not mad that people like to celebrate the holiday because I think the Irish people would want it to be about everyone, but I still do get mad about how people act about it. What makes me mad are those who paint their hair red or orange and parade around on March 17^th like they are Irish.  It is almost like people are making fun of the Irish and putting stereotypes onto them. In my opinion, the way people portray the Irish on St. Patrick’s Day is similar to the assumptions of the 1850s when the Irish immigration movement started.