Irish Minority In The USA
Irish Diaspora (=Irische Auswanderung)
The Irish Diaspora consists of Irish emigrants and their descendants in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, Mexico, South Africa and states of the Caribbean and continental Europe. The Diaspora, maximally interpreted, contains over 80 million people, which is over fourteen times the population of the island of Ireland itself (over 5.9 million in 2006).
The Diaspora was caused by a number of factors, including political and religious oppression, joblessness, and hunger in a sometimes harsh land.
There are three key groups of Irish people in the USA – Irish Americans, who may
extend over more than one generation, older Irish-born people who may have lived
there for thirty or forty years and the New Irish, and young migrants who arrived in the
1980s. Many of the latter are now legal residents, having benefited from the extensive
visa schemes between 1989 and 1994, but a significant number of young people
remain undocumented.
About the History
During and after the Irish potato famine (or Great Famine) of 1845-1849, millions of Irish Catholics came to North America. Many arrived in Canada on disease-ridden ships referred to as coffin ships. Some of them remained there, especially in Toronto and Ontario, and became Irish-Canadians; others moved to the United States. Between 1820 and 1860, one third of all immigrants to the United States were Irish Catholics, and in the 1840s, they comprised nearly half of all immigrants.
The classic image of an Irish immigrant is led occasionally by racist and anti-Catholic stereotypes. In modern times, in the United States, the Irish are largely perceived as hard workers. Most notably they are associated with the positions of policeman, firemen, Catholic Church leaders and politicians in the larger Eastern-Seaboard metropolitan areas.
Although the Irish Catholics started very low on the social status scale, by 1900, they had jobs and earnings about equal on average to their neighbours. After 1945, the Catholic Irish consistently ranked toward the top of the social hierarchy, thanks especially to their high rate of college attendance.
Discrimination and prejudice
Nativist prejudice against Irish Catholics reached a peak in the mid-1850s.
It was common for Irishmen to be discriminated against in the social situations and intermarriage between Catholics and Protestants was uncommon (and strongly discouraged by both ministers and priests).
“HELP WANTED - NO IRISH NEED APPLY”
Famous People
The most famous Person was John F. (Fitzgerald) Kennedy (29.5.1917 – 22.11.1963) – President of the United States in 1960.
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