Irish Americans facts for kids
John F. Kennedy, Mother Jones, George M. Cohan
James Braddock, Michael J. McGivney, J.M. Curley
Victor Herbert, Eugene O'Neill, Ed Sullivan.
Irish Americans (Irish: Gaedheal-Mheiriceánaigh) are an North American ethnic group. They are American citizens whose ancestors were Irish.
Contents
Who they are
People are called Irish Americans if:
- Their ancestors lived in any part of Ireland including the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland
- They came to the United States from Ireland and became American citizens
History
Most Irish people came to the United States between the 17th to mid-19th centuries.
The largest number of Irish people came to the United States between 1820 and 1860. During this time, one out of every three people who immigrated to the United States was Irish.
Between 1820 and 1860, 1,956,557 Irish arrived in the United States. 75% of these immigrants - about 1.5 million Irish people - came after the Great Famine of 1845-1852 (also called The Great Hunger. Many more Irish people died while trying to travel to America on coffin ships.
Between 1820 and 1930, about 4.5 million Irish people moved to the United States.
Where they lived
Most Irish people who came to the United States during the 1800s lived in big cities where there were many other Irish people. They did this so they could help and protect each other. Many stayed near the ports where they arrived, like Boston, New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Many Irish people also lived in Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore.
Discrimination
Most of the Irish immigrants who came to America in the 1800s were Catholic. At that time, most of the United States was controlled by Protestants who were ethnically English, Anglo-Saxon, and Germanic.
Many Irish immigrants were treated badly. For example:
- Some places did not give jobs to Irish Americans
- Newspapers often described Irish people using stereotypes
- Many Americans believed that Irish people were racially inferior, not as smart as other Americans, and did not deserve to be true citizens
Some politicians spoke out against Irish people. For example, in 1836, Benjamin Disraeli wrote:
[The Irish] hate our order, our civilization, our enterprising industry, our pure religion. [They are a] wild, reckless, indolent [lazy], uncertain and superstitious race.
In the mid-1950s, a political group called the Know-Nothing Movement tried to get Catholic politicians fired from their jobs.
Stereotypes about Irish Americans did not go away. For example, President Richard Nixon once said:
"the Irish can't drink. What you always have to remember with the Irish is they get mean. Virtually every Irish I've known gets mean when he drinks. Particularly the real Irish."
Irish Americans today
In 2013, about 33.3 million Americans - about one in every 10 - reported having some Irish ancestry. This is about seven times the number of people who actually live in Ireland.
American presidents with Irish ancestry
A large number of the presidents of the United States have Irish origins. The extent of Irish heritage varies. For example, Chester Arthur's father and both of Andrew Jackson's parents were Irish-born of British ancestry, while George W. Bush has distant Irish ancestry. Ronald Reagan's father was of Irish ancestry, while his mother also had some Irish ancestors. John F. Kennedy and Joe Biden had Irish lineage on both sides and both are the only practicing Roman Catholics. Barack Obama's Irish heritage originates from his Kansas-born mother, Ann Dunham, whose ancestry is Irish and English.
17th president, 1865–69: Although he was Protestant, he had native Irish ancestry on his mother's side. His Mother was Mary "Polly" McDonough of Irish ancestry 1782
27th president 1909–13: His great-great-great-grandfather, Robert Taft was born in 1640 in Ireland and immigrated to America, during the mid 17th century. Robert Taft was from County Louth in the republic of Ireland, his ancestry was both native Irish and Anglo-Irish
28th president 1913–1921: His paternal grandfather, an Ulster Protestant, immigrated from Strabane, County Tyrone, in 1807.
22nd and 24th president, 1885–89 and 1893–97: although personally Protestant, Cleveland had native Ulster Irish ancestry. He was the maternal grandson of merchant Abner O'Neal, who emigrated from County Antrim in the 1790s
18th president, 1869–77: His grandmother was Rachel Kelley, the daughter of an Irish pioneer Surname Kelly within Ulster is almost entirely of Irish origin
- John F. Kennedy
- 35th president, 1961–1963 (Limerick and County Wexford) First Irish Catholic president.
- Richard M. Nixon
- 37th president, 1969–1974 (County Kildare) Richard Milhouse Nixon was descended from a Quaker family who had emigrated to the United States from Timahoe, County Kildare in 1729. Nixon visited his ancestral home in 1972.
- Ronald Reagan
- 40th president, 1981–1989: He was the great-grandson, on his father's side, of Irish migrants from County Tipperary who came to America via Canada and England in the 1840s. His mother was of Scottish and English ancestry.
- George H. W. Bush
- 41st president, 1989–1993 (County Wexford): historians have found that his now apparent ancestor, Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, shunned by Henry II, offered his services as a mercenary in the 12th-century Norman invasion of Wexford in exchange for power and land. Strongbow married Aoife, daughter of Dermot MacMurrough, the Gaelic king of Leinster.
- George W. Bush
- 43rd president, 2001–2009: One of his five times great-grandfathers, William Holliday (a British merchant living in Ireland), was born in Rathfriland, County Down, about 1755 and died in Kentucky about 1811–12. One of the President's seven times great-grandfathers, William Shannon, was born somewhere in County Cork about 1730, and died in Pennsylvania in 1784.
- Barack Obama
- 44th president, 2009–2017: Some of his maternal ancestors came to America from a small village called Moneygall, in County Offaly. His ancestors lived in New England and the South and, by the 1800s, most were in the Midwest.
- Joe Biden
- 46th and current president, 2021–present. Biden is of Irish ancestry; of his 16 great-great-grandparents, 10 were born in Ireland. He is descended from the Blewitts of County Mayo and the Finnegans of County Louth.
Vice presidents of Irish descent
- Mike Pence
- 48th vice president 2017–2021
Speakers of the U.S. House of Representatives
- Joseph W. Martin Jr. (44th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1947–1949 & 1953–1955; House Republican Conference Leader, 1939–1959; House Minority Leader, 1939–1947, 1949–1953 & 1955–1959; U.S. Representative from Massachusetts's 15th congressional district, 1925–1933; U.S. Representative from Massachusetts's 14th congressional district, 1933–1963; U.S. Representative from Massachusetts's 10th congressional district, 1963–1967; Republican National Committee Chair, 1940–1942)
- John W. McCormack (45th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1962–1971; House Democratic Caucus Leader, 1962–1971; House Majority Leader, 1940–1947, 1949–1953 & 1955–1962; House Minority Whip, 1947–1949 & 1953–1955; U.S. Representative from Massachusetts's 12th congressional district, 1928–1963; U.S. Representative from Massachusetts's 9th congressional district, 1963–1971; Massachusetts State Senator, 1923–1928)
- Tip O'Neill (47th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1977–1987; House Democratic Caucus Leader, 1977–1987; House Majority Leader, 1973–1977; House Minority Whip, 1971–1973; U.S. Representative from Massachusetts's 11th congressional district, 1953–1963; U.S. Representative from Massachusetts's 8th congressional district, 1963–1987; Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, 1949–1953; Minority Leader of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, 1947–1949)
- Jim Wright (48th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1987–1989; House Democratic Caucus Leader, 1987–1989; House Majority Leader, 1977–1987; U.S. Representative from Texas's 12th congressional district, 1955–1989; U.S. Army Air Force 2nd Lieutenant, 1942–1946)
- Tom Foley (49th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1989–1995; House Democratic Caucus Leader, 1989–1995; House Majority Leader, 1987–1989; House Majority Whip, 1981–1987; U.S. Representative from Washington's 5th congressional district, 1965–1995; House Agriculture Committee Chair, 1975–1981; President's Intelligence Advisory Board Chair, 1996–1997; 25th U.S. Ambassador to Japan, 1997–2001)
- John Boehner (53rd Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, 2011–2015; House Republican Conference Leader, 2007–2015; House Majority Leader, 2006–2007; House Education Committee Chair, 2001–2006; U.S. Representative from Ohio's 8th congressional district, 1991–2015; Ohio State Representative, 1985–1991)
- Paul Ryan (54th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, 2015–2019; House Republican Conference Leader, 2015–2019; House Ways and Means Committee Chair, 2015; House Budget Committee Chair, 2011–2015; U.S. Representative from Wisconsin's 1st congressional district, 1999–2019)
Irish-American justices of the Supreme Court
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- Joseph McKenna
- Edward D. White
- Pierce Butler
- Frank Murphy
- James Francis Byrnes
- William J. Brennan
- Anthony Kennedy
- Neil Gorsuch Partial maternal Irish ancestry
- Brett Kavanaugh
- Amy Coney Barrett
Images for kids
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Charles Carroll, the sole Catholic signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, was the descendant of Irish nobility in County Tipperary. Signers Matthew Thornton, George Taylor were born in Ireland and were "Ulster" Scots, while Thomas Lynch Jr., for example, was Protestant; he was of Irish ancestry and retained a strong Irish identity.
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"Leacht Cuimhneacháin na nGael", Irish famine memorial located on Penn's Landing, Philadelphia
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Thomas Ambrose Butler, an Irish Catholic priest, was a leading voice in urging Irish immigrants to colonize Kansas
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Gravestone in Boston Catholic cemetery erected in memory of County Roscommon native born shortly before the Great Famine
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Concentration of people born in Ireland in 1870 Census
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U.S. President Grover Cleveland twisting the tail of the British Lion as Americans cheer in the Venezuelan crisis of 1895; cartoon in Puck by J.S. Pughe
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The Orange riot of 1871 as depicted in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. The view is at 25th Street in Manhattan looking south down Eighth Avenue.
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St. Augustine's Church on fire. Anti-Irish, anti-Catholic Nativist riots in Philadelphia in 1844.
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The mass hanging of Irish Catholic soldiers who joined the Mexican army
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Officers and men of the Irish-Catholic 69th New York Volunteer Regiment attend church services at Fort Corcoran in 1861.
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Irish Lass depiction in 1885.
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Irish immigrants in Kansas City, Missouri, c. 1909
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1862 song (Female versian)
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1862 song that used the "No Irish Need Apply" slogan. It was copied from a similar London song.
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New York Times want ad 1854—the only New York Times ad with NINA for men.
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1882 illustration from Puck depicting Irish immigrants as troublemakers, as compared to those of other nationalities
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Logo of the Boston Celtics basketball team
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The Philadelphia Phillies started the tradition of wearing green uniforms on St. Patrick's day.
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Two Irish stars: "Gentleman Jim" Corbett licks John L. Sullivan in 1892
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Actor Tom Cruise descends from paternal Irish ("Cruise" and "O'Mara") lineage around County Dublin.
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Irish Republican mural in South Boston, Massachusetts
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The Chicago River, dyed green for the 2005 St. Patrick's Day celebration
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Population density of people born in Ireland, 1870; these were mostly Catholics; the older Scots Irish immigration is not shown.
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See also
In Spanish: Inmigración irlandesa en los Estados Unidos para niños
