3: Irish Immigrants (Stand alone)

Scotch Irish

• Ulster Scots people, an ethnic group in Ulster, Ireland, who trace their roots to settlers from Scotland.

Scotch-Irish Americans:

• Descendants of Ulster Scots who first migrated to America in large numbers in the1700s.

• Given lands seized from the native Irish in 1603 and 1604.

Scott Irish American Descriptors:

Skilled and better educated than Irish immigrants.

Scot Irish American Religion:

Presbyterians and English Anglicans (a form of Christianity that includes Protestantism and Roman Catholicism)

Irish Immigration (time)

1820-1030

Reason for Emigration:

Potato Famine (1845-1852) - Infection of potato crop. Many Irish accused the famine of being a direct outgrowth of British colonial p; policies rather than a natural disaster.

Irelands Population Result:

Declined by 20-25% due to death and emigration.

Irish Immigrant Financial Status:

Poor but not the poorest as they were able to afford the steerage passage to the US, “destitute”.

Irish Immigrants Living Conditions:

• Lived in close quarters in poor living conditions with inadequate sewage and no running water

• resulted in diseases (cholera, typhus, tuberculosis, and mental illness.

Discrimination by previous immigrant groups:

*  Religious differences—Catholic vs Protestants

*  Hostility- Accused of spreading disease. 

• Blamed for the unsanitary conditions they were forced to live in.

Irish Immigrants Occupations: (Ireland)

Lived in rural areas so agricultural based (farming)

Irish Immigrants Occupations (US)

• Unskilled laborers in industrialized nation;

• Women worked as domestics

• Men worked in danger—building railroads, coal mining

What happened in W.Virginia in relation to the Irish

Union laborers in the coal mines were fired and replaced with Irish, Italian and AA laborers.

Irish Immigrant's Impediments to Social Mobility:

• Housing “choices”

• Occupations entered

• Financial support to families in the homeland

• Chain immigration bringing additional relatives to America

What is Chain Migration?

The immigrant in the US communicates to family and friends in their country of origin encouraging further migration.

Ant-Immigrant Opposition (2)

• 1840—Nativist American Party opposed foreign influences and promoted “traditional American ideals.”  the “know-Nothings,”

  For admittance to the American Party, one had to promise to  "…elect to all offices of Honor, Profit, or Trust…”

2nd and 3rd Generation Irish Americans

Climbed occupational and social ladders through politically appointed positions such as policeman, fireman, and teacher.

Better educated and more affluent than their parents

Some entered the circle of power ex. Kennedy family

The Kennedy’s Rise to Power:

• The first Kennedy who arrived in the United States in 1848 was a laborer.