The Irish in America

Catalog description

From the sixteenth century to the present, Irish people have been crossing the Atlantic to the Americas, stretching from Newfoundland to the Amazon. From the eighteenth century, they became one of the most significant ethnic groups to steadily migrate from Europe to the United States. Their impact has been disproportional to their numbers but this only partially explains our contemporary understanding of "Irish America." Ethnicity is an imprint and defining feature of American life yet the Irish experience with it over the past five centuries is a story complicated by multiple generations, diversity of class, continuing immigration, and rapid changes in both the homeland and the receiving country. This course considers the factors affecting emigration from Ireland; examines the impact of the Irish on the development of the United States since the colonial period, particularly on its cities; studies the changing Irish image in American popular culture; and considers the implications of longevity on the American immigrant experience.