Irish on the Move

The Irish immigrant story is one to be noted in my family because my ancestors traveled to America to escape the hardships of their own country of Ireland.  There were three waves of immigrants that came to America (the New World) in search of something missing from their country (the Old World).  The three different waves can be grouped into two categories: the first two waves in one group, and then the third wave in the second group.  The first two waves chose to immigrate and assimilate to America whereas the third wave was pushed out of their country by famine (Thomas 1).  There were different motivations and attitudes of the immigrants once they arrived in America and therefore the dominant culture accepted the different groups of people very differently. 

The first and second waves of immigration involved religious reasons of each the Protestant and Catholic faiths, and the population of America only grew by 200,000 Irish in sixty years (Thomas 1).  “Before the 1940’s, Irish immigrants came to America by choice.  Although they faced prejudices they were well educated and well adjusted to life in the states” (Davis 3).  The early immigrants were educated and well assimilated and fit into the dominant culture as an unmarked population rather easily.  The immigrants being educated allowed the career opportunities to be greater which allowed blending into the dominant culture quite easy.  The earlier immigrants often wrote articles and literature for the general public once in America (Davis 4).  “The majority of immigrants were proficient in the English language, but many would have been bilingual or native speakers of the Irish Gaelic” (Irish American 4).  The first two waves of immigrants allowed their selves to assimilate and blend into the dominant culture quickly due to the choice of leaving their home land, and having the freedom of religion within reason.

The third wave of Irish immigrants to come to America was pushed by the harsh conditions of their own country as well as the religious prosecution toward the Catholic religion.  The potato famine of the 1840’s killed one quarter of the population in Ireland due to starvation and disease (Thomas 2).  The “Great Migration” began toward Canada and America.  The mass move relates to the Exodus and the pilgrim’s story of the dominant culture.  The Irish immigrants worked as unskilled factory laborers and construction to make ends meet.  Many Americans resisted the mass immigration and created barriers for the new immigrants.  The Irish immigrants ultimately wanted a better life and freedom of religion again as the pilgrims and the Israelites.  The push for ultimate assimilation for their children was wanted through the encouragement of education them.  “Irish-born parents made sacrifices to keep them in school and took pride in seeing them fill positions in the various professions and attain power in political offices” (Thomas 3).  The Irish immigrants understood the need of education but the mass move did not allow for proper education and assimilation to the dominant culture as quickly as the first two waves.  The Americans resisted the mass need of the immigrants because the strain it caused the country.  “During periods of prosperity, Americans have tended to be more tolerant of alien residents; during periods of hardship, Americans have tended to be less tolerant of immigrant groups” (Beard 247).  As the economic need of the newly immigrated lessened, the focus toward them began to fall away easing the assimilation process. 

The Irish born author Eve Bunting immigrated to America with her immediate family in 1960 at the age of 32.  Like the first two waves of immigrants Bunting chose to come to America to alleviate stress of her religion in Ireland.  She remembers the discrimination between the Protestants and the Catholics which was the ultimate push toward America.  She was educated thoroughly in Ireland to the university level where she met her husband (Eve Bunting 2-3).  The value on education is important in American assimilation into the dominant culture.  Bunting admits that the assimilation process was difficult at first, but already speaking English eased things quickly (Cary 2).  The first few books Bunting published focused on Irish narrators, settings, or folktales of her homeland.  The focus demonstrates holding onto her culture.  She has since included a wide variety of narrative voices and subject to over 200 titles (Thompson 15).  Bunting’s choice in immigrating to America mirrors that of the immigration of the immigration of the first two waves from Ireland to America before the 1840’s.  History may be showing signs of repeating itself through the immigration process presently.  America is a land of immigrants, and it always will be.

Works Cited

Davis, Marilyn.  “Irish Voices.” Perspectives. Copyright 2004, Southern Illinois University. 29 April 2006. http://www.siu.edu/~perspect/04_sp/irish.html.

Thomas, E., R. Brei. “The Irish Immigrants.” Omaha Migration.  10 November 1998. 29 April 2006. http://www2.ops.org/north/curriculum/socstudies/ethnicb2/past/irish.htm.

Bedard, Michael Thomas. “The Immigrant Experience- Irish, Italians, Germans, Poles, Jews, Japanese, and Arabs.” Civil Rights in America 1500 to the Present. Ed. Jay A. Sigler. Detroit: Gale, 1998.

“Irish American.” Wikipedia. 28 April 2006. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. UHCL Library. 29 April 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/irish_american.

Cary, Alice. “A Talk With Eve Bunting: From the Titanic to Ancient Egypt.” Book Page Children’s Interview. ProMotion, 1997. 29 April 2006. http://www.bookpage.com/9705bp/childrens/evebinting.html.

“Eve Bunting.” Gale Literary Databases. UHCL Library. 21 September 2005. 29 April 2006. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/gld/hits?r=d&origsearch=true&o=....

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