The New York Irish

Ronald H. Bayor, Timothy Meagher

JHU Press, Sep 30, 1997 - History - 743 pages

Now in paperback—the sweeping story of Irish immigrants and their descendants in New York—a story almost as old as the city itself.

When Ellis Island opened in 1892, nearly four million Irish men and women had already made the journey to America. By the 1990s, Ireland had sent another million or more. New York has been both port of entry and home to the Irish for three centuries. During that time, America's premier city has undergone massive changes, and the Irish—one of the country's oldest ethnic groups—have played a vital part in its history.

The New York Irish tackles subjects like the medicalization of anti-immigrant prejudice; entrepreneurship in business; the impact of music and language on ethnic social life; the effect of nationalist movements on local politics; the dynamics of Irish relations with African-Americans, Chinese, and Dominicans; the battle for freedom of religious expression; and the problem of illegal immigration. It offers a fresh perspective on an immigrant people's encounter with the famed metropolis.

A joint project of the Irish Institute and the New York Irish History Roundtable

Contents

• PARTI COLONIAL AND EARLY NATIONAL AMERICA: 10
• Manhattan from Brooklyn Heights 1834: 33
• The Irish in Colonial: 35
• Clues to: 48
• William Sampson: 55
• The Development of an Irish American Community: 70
• 1844 to 1877: 87
• Irish Emigrant Society office: 92
• July 12 1871 OrangeGreen riot: 98
• Irish: 107
• Sixth Ward 1846 map: 111
• ChineseIrish: 125
• How the Chinaman Might Gain Favor: 133
• Illness and Medical Care among Irish: 153
• Irish Entrepreneurs: 169
• Devlin Co billhead: 184
• The Irish Community and: 193
• Departure of the Sixtyninth Regiment 1861: 196
• The Tigers Share: 211
• 1877 to 1914: 213
• St Vincents Nursery: 220
• 25th Precinct station house: 230
• Irish Catholics in: 234
• St Patricks Cathedral Grand Fair: 242
• The Gael November 1900: 269
• Irish County Societies in New York 18801914: 275
• County Monaghan Mens Society dance class: 293
• The Irish American Worker in Transition: 301
• Laying street railway tracks c 1891: 302
• Key Themes: 321
• St Columcille Branch FOIF: 333
• Freshman class St Francis College: 343
• Striking for Ireland on the New York Docks: 357
• John: 374
• Irish: 395
• 1945 to 1992: 419
• The Irish: 439
• New York: 508
• Conclusion: 533
• Statistical Tables: 551
• Percentage of Gainfully Employed Workers in Foreignborn Families xiii: 561
• Maps: 565
• Select Bibliography: 703

Popular passages

Page 701 - David R. Roediger, The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class (New York: Verso, 1991), and Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White (New York: Routledge, 1995).

About the author

Ronald H. Bayor is a professor emeritus of history at the Georgia Institute of Technology and former president of the Immigration and Ethnic History Society. He is author of Neighbors in Conflict: The Irish, Germans, Jews, and Italians of New York City, 1929–1941, and coeditor of The New York Irish, both published by Johns Hopkins.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The New York Irish
• Editors: Ronald H. Bayor, Timothy Meagher
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: JHU Press, 1997
• ISBN: 0801857643, 9780801857645
• Length: 743 pages
• Subjects: History / Americas (North, Central, South, West Indies); History / United States / General; History / United States / State & Local / General; Social Science / Cultural & Ethnic Studies / American / European American Studies; Social Science / Emigration & Immigration; Social Science / Minority Studies