In the large cities in America and even in small towns, the Irish banded together for companionship and for recreation. Saloon-keepers formed social clubs which brought fellowship for the Irish. Soon they became cogs in the wheels of ward politics. The mines and factories had horrid working conditions, so unions were formed. Irish militia groups were organized to satisfy the Irish love of ritual and color.
The status found in police departments attracted the Irish temperament. By 1933 more 30% of the New York City police were of Irish heritage. The one thing that most men wanted was security. They would gain security by ownership of property or a civil service position. So the Irishmen became firemen, policemen, mailmen, or filled other government services.
The cultural history of the Irish in the United States began in their songs, both melodious and often melancholy. The immigrant sang of the land he had left behind, or the girl back home in Ireland. “No more among the sycamores I’ll hear the blackbird sing. No more to me the blithe cuckoo will welcome back the Spring,” was one lyric.
John McCormack was a popular singer who owned a hand-crank phonograph. He was one of the finest bel canto voices of the early 20th Century. Irish playwrights were noted for their wit. For their theatre, “Shanty” Irish confined their tastes to amateur entertainments, often sponsored by the local firemen’s association. “Lace curtain” or nouveau riche Irish preferred the melodrama or the sketches of Irish life in America by Harrington and Hart.
Durable stock settings usually were used of a barbershop, a grocery store, or a butcher shop. Irish characters invariably prevailed over their straight men who were German or Italian immigrant types who became the foils for displays of Irish wit. Vaudeville acts in large cities offered comedy, singing, musicals, and drama.
F. Scott Fitzgerald was the first writer of Irish-Catholic background to become a major novelist in America. He was a romantic, but cynical about romance. He was bitter as well as ecstatic. Astringent as well as lyrical. He is “vain, a little malicious, of quick intelligence and wit and has an Irish gift for turning language into something iridescent and surprising,” according to Fitzgerald. To understand Fitzgerald’s fiction is to have an appreciation of his Irish heritage.
Hunger, dissatisfaction, provocation, and ambition brought the Irish immigrant to our shores. Their American legacy is in the work of their hands and back. Through their talent and industry, they became office workers, civil servants and professionals. The American ideal the Irish sought was one of grace, leisure, wealth, travel, which was a world ruled by the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy of finance and commerce.
As early as George Washington’s administration, Federalist politicians complained of the “wild Irish” flocking into the country. It was 100 years later, an observer noted that “one of the functions of the Irish race in America is to administer the affairs of American cities.” He noted 17 cities across the country among those “led captive by Irishmen and their sons.” Irish immigrants tended to live in large cities. The Irish saw in politics the possibilities for a profession offering social status and economic security. Traditionally, Irish politics operated within the framework of the Democratic Party. The significance of Irish voting power was recognized early.
In the 1830s an English poet described the arrival of an immigrant ship: “Here comes a ship-load of Irish. They land upon the wharfs of New York in rags and open knee’d breeches with raw looks and bare necks. They throw up their torn hats with glee.”
Erin go Braugh.