Irish Americans

Irish population density in the United States, 1872.

Irish Americans are residents or citizens of the United States who claim Irish ancestry. Most Irish-Americans claim Irish Catholic ancestry, though some Scots-Irish Americans also consider themselves Irish-American. Including the Scots-Irish, Irish Americans currently make up roughly 15% of all Americans.

Many Protestant Irish settlers moved to America during the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries. During and after the Irish potato famine of the 1840s millions of Catholic refugees came to North America. Many went to Canada in disease-ridden ships referred to as coffin ships. Many remained, especially in Toronto, and became Irish-Canadians; others moved south to the United States.

Irish descendants retain a sense of their Irish heritage. Many were enthusiastic supporters of Irish independence; after that was achieved in 1922, the American Irish generally lost interest in the politics of the old country until political violence erupted again in the 1970s. A sense of exile, diaspora, and (in the case of songs) even nostalgia is common in Irish America.

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

Common stereotypes of Irish-Americans include perceptions of them as being more prone to alcoholism and as having shorter tempers than other ethnic groups (witness the idiom: "To get one's Irish up"). Prejudice against Irish-Americans was originally once very strong within American culture, reaching a peak in the mid-19th century. It is often claimed that many employers would ward off Irish jobseekers by posting signs reading "HELP WANTED - IRISH NEED NOT APPLY;" while this was common in Canada at the time, and in England up until the 1960s, one scholar claims that there have been no documented cases in the U.S. [1]. Other 19th century stereotypes of the Irish included views of them as being violent and prone to crime [2] [3] and diseased with the affliction then referred to as consumption. These attitudes culminated in the establishment of the Know-Nothing Party in the early 1850s. Throughout the 20th century about half the leaders of organized labor were Irish Catholics.

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

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

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

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

The Irish and their descendants have also had a significant impact on the Catholic Church in America and continue to do so today. Many churches and parochial schools have been named for Irish saints (notably Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, among others.) In addition, of the seven American cardinals that voted in the 2005 conclave, five were of Irish descent, and the cities of New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago consistently elect cardinals and bishops of Irish ancestry and have done so for many years.