{"id":207,"date":"2016-05-11T14:26:10","date_gmt":"2016-05-11T14:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/?page_id=207"},"modified":"2023-05-15T22:06:39","modified_gmt":"2023-05-15T22:06:39","slug":"irish","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/ethnic-groups\/irish\/","title":{"rendered":"Irish"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\">[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1464907004098{margin-top: -40px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 10px !important;padding-top: 15px !important;padding-bottom: 15px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}&#8221;]\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Irish clam diggers on a wharf in\u00a0Boston, 1882. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.<\/em><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text]<style>.vcex-heading.vcex_69df5e93892e9{font-size:36px;}<\/style><div class=\"vcex-heading vcex-heading-plain vcex-module wpex-heading wpex-text-2xl vc_custom_1464906867259 vcex_69df5e93892e9\"><span class=\"vcex-heading-inner wpex-inline-block\">Irish<\/span><\/div>[vc_column_text css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1684188337189{padding-right: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;padding-left: 30px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}&#8221;]Irish immigration to Boston began in the colonial period with the arrival of predominantly Protestant migrants from Ulster. Many of these early Irish arrivals worked as indentured servants to pay for their passage, typically earning their freedom after seven years. The Scots-Irish, as they were later called, emigrated in much smaller numbers than the next wave of Irish Catholic immigrants who began arriving in the 1820s.<\/p>\n<p>Since the seventeenth century, English rule in Ireland had created a society in which the vast majority of Irish people lived in poverty as tenant farmers. From 1846-1852, a blight that devastated the potato crop led to a great famine, resulting in widespread starvation, disease, and deaths. Seeking refuge and opportunity, thousands of Irish began to migrate to urban centers in the British Isles and abroad, including Boston. Coming especially from the southwestern counties of Cork, Galway, Kerry and Clare, the new Boston arrivals were predominantly Catholic and produced a marked demographic shift in a historically Protestant city. With the exception of the Civil War years, Irish immigration to Boston continued throughout the nineteenth century, as conditions in Ireland remained grim. The foreign-born Irish population of the city reached its numeric peak around 1890.<\/p>\n<p>Following some eighty years of relative decline, Irish immigration to Boston once again grew in the 1970s and 1980s as the Irish economy faltered. The demand for visas, however, outpaced the quota established under the 1965 Immigration Act, and many thus came without authorization. Some were able to adjust their status under the diversity lottery established in 1990 in response to organized efforts by the Irish Immigrant Reform Movement. Many others, however, returned to Ireland as the so-called \u201cCeltic Tiger\u201d\u2014Ireland\u2019s economic boom of the 1990s and early 2000s\u2014improved prospects back home.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_989\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-989\" style=\"width: 444px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-989\" src=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/13-Half-Moon-Place-1849.jpg\" alt=\"Half-moon Place in Boston's old Fort Hill neighborhood. Sketch of tenements where dozens of Irish immigrants died of cholera in 1849. From: Report of the Committee of Internal Health on the Asiatic Cholera (Boston, 1849).\" width=\"444\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/13-Half-Moon-Place-1849.jpg 489w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/13-Half-Moon-Place-1849-300x288.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 444px) 100vw, 444px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-989\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Sketch of tenements Boston&#8217;s old Fort Hill neighborhood where dozens of Irish immigrants died of cholera in 1849. From: Report of the Committee of Internal Health on the Asiatic Cholera (Boston, 1849).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Patterns of Settlement<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Early Irish immigrants settled in Boston\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/immigrant-places\/the-north-end\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">North End<\/a> and Fort Hill (the presentday financial district) neighborhoods. With the creation of new land in the <a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/the-west-end\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">West End<\/a> and South Cove in the mid-nineteenth century, the Irish became the first of many immigrant groups to settle in these areas. Soon after, the Irish were also moving into <a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/immigrant-places\/south-boston\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">South Boston<\/a> and Charlestown, which would become and remain predominantly Irish-American neighborhoods for most of the twentieth century. Others settled in parts of <a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/immigrant-places\/dorchester\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dorchester<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/immigrant-places\/roxbury\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Roxbury<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/immigrant-places\/east-boston\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">East Boston<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/cambridge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cambridge<\/a>, and other nearby towns, where new Catholic parishes anchored emerging ethnic neighborhoods. Many of these immigrants\u2019 children and grandchildren moved to the suburbs after World War II, with the highest concentrations located on the South Shore.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Workforce Participation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Coming mainly from impoverished agricultural areas, most Irish immigrants initially worked as unskilled laborers, dockworkers, hod carriers, teamsters, and domestic servants. Much of the City of Boston, in fact, was built with Irish labor, quite literally in the case of the South Cove and Back Bay, tidal basins that developers and their immigrant workers transformed into fashionable residential neighborhoods in the 1840s and 1850s. Irish men also provided labor for building local canals, railroads, aqueducts, and the Boston subway system. Irish women made up the majority of the city\u2019s domestic servants, as well as laboring alongside Irish men and children in the region\u2019s factories and sweatshops. As they attained higher levels of education and social acceptance, Irish women moved into teaching, retail, and clerical work, while Irish men worked as police officers, firefighters, and civil servants. By the middle of the twentieth century, the Boston Irish were well established as political and business leaders, a trend highlighted by the election of President John F. Kennedy in 1960.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/bibliography\/#irish\"><strong>Sources and Further Reading<\/strong><\/a>[\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;]<style>.vcex-teaser.vcex_69df5e938a00c .vcex-teaser-heading{color:#494949;}<\/style><div class=\"vcex-module vcex-teaser wpex-flex wpex-flex-col vc_custom_1627917439679 vcex_69df5e938a00c\"><div class=\"vcex-teaser-media wpex-mb-20\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/cholera-report\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\"><img width=\"610\" height=\"448\" src=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/closeup-cholera-map-of-Boston-HENRY-WILLIAMS.png\" class=\"wpex-align-middle\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/closeup-cholera-map-of-Boston-HENRY-WILLIAMS.png 610w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/closeup-cholera-map-of-Boston-HENRY-WILLIAMS-300x220.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 610px) 100vw, 610px\" \/><\/a><\/div><div class=\"vcex-teaser-content\"><h2 class=\"vcex-teaser-heading wpex-heading wpex-text-lg wpex-child-inherit-color\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/cholera-report\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\">The Cholera Epidemic of 1849<\/a><\/h2><div class=\"vcex-teaser-text wpex-mt-10 wpex-last-mb-0 wpex-clr\"><p>Irish famine surivors\u00a0were the main victims of the Boston cholera epidemic\u00a0of\u00a01849. Soon after, the city issued a report which included a rare\u00a0description of\u00a0living conditions in the city&#8217;s poor Irish neighborhoods.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>[\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;]<style>.vcex-teaser.vcex_69df5e938abf4 .vcex-teaser-heading{color:#494949;}<\/style><div class=\"vcex-module vcex-teaser wpex-flex wpex-flex-col vc_custom_1627917421709 vcex_69df5e938abf4\"><div class=\"vcex-teaser-media wpex-mb-20\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/nativism-and-racism\/an-infamous-case-of-extradition\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\" title=\"An Infamous Case of Extradition\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img width=\"800\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/MI_Irish_potato_famine_Bridget_O_Donnel.jpg\" class=\"wpex-align-middle\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/MI_Irish_potato_famine_Bridget_O_Donnel.jpg 800w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/MI_Irish_potato_famine_Bridget_O_Donnel-300x188.jpg 300w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/MI_Irish_potato_famine_Bridget_O_Donnel-768x480.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/div><div class=\"vcex-teaser-content\"><h2 class=\"vcex-teaser-heading wpex-heading wpex-text-lg wpex-child-inherit-color\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/nativism-and-racism\/an-infamous-case-of-extradition\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\" title=\"An Infamous Case of Extradition\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">An Infamous Case of Extradition<\/a><\/h2><div class=\"vcex-teaser-text wpex-mt-10 wpex-last-mb-0 wpex-clr\"><p>In 1855, officials in Massachusetts deported Mary Williams, an poor Irish widow, and her American-born daughter along with thousands of others classified as \u201cpaupers\u201d and \u201clunatics.\u201d State laws allowing such deportations in both Massachusetts and New York would later influence deportation laws and policies enacted by the federal government.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>[\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;]<style>.vcex-teaser.vcex_69df5e938b503 .vcex-teaser-heading{color:#494949;}<\/style><div class=\"vcex-module vcex-teaser wpex-flex wpex-flex-col vc_custom_1627917800421 vcex_69df5e938b503\"><div class=\"vcex-teaser-media wpex-mb-20\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ancestry.com\/search\/collections\/missingirish\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img width=\"418\" height=\"238\" src=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Missing-Friends.jpg\" class=\"wpex-align-middle\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Missing-Friends.jpg 418w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Missing-Friends-300x171.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 418px) 100vw, 418px\" \/><\/a><\/div><div class=\"vcex-teaser-content\"><h2 class=\"vcex-teaser-heading wpex-heading wpex-text-lg wpex-child-inherit-color\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ancestry.com\/search\/collections\/missingirish\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Missing Friends<\/a><\/h2><div class=\"vcex-teaser-text wpex-mt-10 wpex-last-mb-0 wpex-clr\"><p>From 1831 to 1920, the <em>Boston Pilot<\/em> published a \u201cMissing Friends\u201d column with advertisements from people looking for \u201clost\u201d friends and relatives who had emigrated from Ireland to the United States. Scholars at Boston College compiled a database of these ads which are now searchable online through Ancestry.com. The ads provide fascinating details including county of birth, year of departure, occupation and other personal information.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>[\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;]<style>.vcex-teaser.vcex_69df5e938beab .vcex-teaser-heading{color:#494949;}<\/style><div class=\"vcex-module vcex-teaser wpex-flex wpex-flex-col vc_custom_1627917815821 vcex_69df5e938beab\"><div class=\"vcex-teaser-media wpex-mb-20\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/an-irish-shoeworkers-story\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\" title=\"Dudley Street\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img width=\"600\" height=\"388\" src=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/image-asset.jpg\" class=\"wpex-align-middle\" alt=\"A postcard (??) of an eight-story building at an intersection of two streets in downtown Lynn.\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/image-asset.jpg 600w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/image-asset-300x194.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/div><div class=\"vcex-teaser-content\"><h2 class=\"vcex-teaser-heading wpex-heading wpex-text-lg wpex-child-inherit-color\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/an-irish-shoeworkers-story\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\" title=\"Dudley Street\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">60 Years in Lynn: An Irish Shoeworker's Story<\/a><\/h2><div class=\"vcex-teaser-text wpex-mt-10 wpex-last-mb-0 wpex-clr\"><p>In one of the earliest oral histories of shoeworkers in Lynn, this Irish immigrant tells his story of coming to America, working in the shoe factories, and the changing composition of the Lynn workforce.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]<style>.vcex-teaser.vcex_69df5e938c7d8 .vcex-teaser-heading{color:#494949;}<\/style><div class=\"vcex-module vcex-teaser wpex-flex wpex-flex-col vc_custom_1627917848344 vcex_69df5e938c7d8\"><div class=\"vcex-teaser-media wpex-mb-20\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/immigrant-places\/roxbury\/dudley-street\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\" title=\"Dudley Street\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img width=\"2985\" height=\"2338\" src=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Frank-Storer-at-Piano-1.jpg\" class=\"wpex-align-middle\" alt=\"Frank Storer looks at the camera as he plays piano in the foreground. Behind him, there are three other instrumentalists, playing string instruments. In the background, there are many men and women dancing and talking.\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Frank-Storer-at-Piano-1.jpg 2985w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Frank-Storer-at-Piano-1-300x235.jpg 300w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Frank-Storer-at-Piano-1-768x602.jpg 768w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Frank-Storer-at-Piano-1-1024x802.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2985px) 100vw, 2985px\" \/><\/a><\/div><div class=\"vcex-teaser-content\"><h2 class=\"vcex-teaser-heading wpex-heading wpex-text-lg wpex-child-inherit-color\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/immigrant-places\/roxbury\/dudley-street\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\" title=\"Dudley Street\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dudley Street: Crossroads of Celtic Music<\/a><\/h2><div class=\"vcex-teaser-text wpex-mt-10 wpex-last-mb-0 wpex-clr\"><p>Before Roxbury was home to hip-hop and salsa, fiddles and accordions were the instruments of choice. From the 1920 to the 1960s, Irish and Canadian immigrants brought their native music to the many dance halls that lined Dudley Street. While the scene is long gone, its influence lives on in a vibrant Celtic music tradition in Boston today.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>[vc_btn title=&#8221;Return to Ethnic Groups&#8221; style=&#8221;3d&#8221; color=&#8221;inverse&#8221; size=&#8221;lg&#8221; align=&#8221;center&#8221; link=&#8221;url:http%3A%2F%2Fglobalboston.bc.edu%2Findex.php%2Fhome%2Fethnic-groups%2F||&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1464907004098{margin-top: -40px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 10px !important;padding-top: 15px !important;padding-bottom: 15px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}&#8221;] Irish clam diggers on a wharf in\u00a0Boston, 1882. Photo courtesy of the National Archives. [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1684188337189{padding-right: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;padding-left: 30px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}&#8221;]Irish immigration to Boston began in the colonial period with the arrival of predominantly Protestant migrants from Ulster.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2473,"parent":151,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-207","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","entry","has-media"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Irish - Global Boston<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/ethnic-groups\/irish\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Irish - Global Boston\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1464907004098{margin-top: -40px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 10px !important;padding-top: 15px !important;padding-bottom: 15px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}&#8221;] Irish clam diggers on a wharf in\u00a0Boston, 1882. Photo courtesy of the National Archives. 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