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Actually I think Boston is the highest among large cities by %, by population both NYC and Philly actually have more Irish. These are definately the top three among large cities - Chicago would then be next a little behind
The 2000 census may have concluded that Asians, blacks, and Hispanics now make up the majority of Boston's population, but those were just statistics. Boston is an Irish town. The Irish dominate, in business, in politics, in sheer numbers. Twenty-five percent of state residents, asked by the census to describe their ethnic identity, called themselves Irish, the highest concentration in the country, outnumbering the second most populous group — Italians — by more than two to one. With just 2 percent of the total U.S. population, Massachusetts is home to 4 percent of all Irish Americans
The Irish cemented their long and impressive rise to political power in Boston with the election of Hugh O'Brien as mayor in 1884, and broadened their influence with the ascendancy of U.S. House Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, the Kennedys, and others. How influential were they? By the time Congress ran a lottery to hand out 40,000 new visas to applicants from 34 countries in 1991, two Massachusetts politicians — Senator Edward M. Kennedy and then-Congressman Brian Donnelly — led the efforts to set almost half of them aside exclusively for immigrants from just one place: Ireland.
And, in fact, the Irish kept on coming, the vaunted Irish economic miracle notwithstanding. While the flow has fallen from the peak of 20,000 Irish per year who left their home country for the United States in the 1980s, an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 Irish made the trip annually during the 1990s, many to Boston, according to the Irish Episcopal Commission for Emigrants.
"There may still be building jobs in Dublin," says Kevin O'Neill, head of the Irish Studies Program at BC. "But for a young guy in rural Ireland, it's sometimes easier to pick up stakes and move to Boston. The networks are in place here."
Location: Pittsburgh (via Chicago, via Pittsburgh)
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Originally Posted by kidphilly
Actually I think Boston is the highest among large cities by %, by population both NYC and Philly actually have more Irish. These are definately the top three among large cities - Chicago would then be next a little behind
you're probably right. those 3 were just from my experience, Pittsburgh having one of the biggest parades in the country, Chicago with its "Chi-rish" festivities and dying the river green, and Boston for obvious reasons. But I've never been in Philly during the St. Patty's day season, the videos are interesting though.
Oh somehow this one is Irish too (at least it starts at an Irish bar and is a Philly tradition and raises money for needing families to make Christmas become a reality)
Well I guess my hometown may be the most Irish in the country...it's at least the most Irish town in the most Irish state. This was printed today on Boston.com.
Scituate, MA: 47.5% Irish
Hope everyone throws down on some serious drinks this evening.
P.S. To get an idea of how Irish the South Shore of Boston is, check out this interactive map and choose "Irish".
P.P.S. Don't look at the African American population stats (at the bottom of the list) unless you want a chuckle. Most towns are below 3%
I agree, much of Ireland is rural and very green, so it can make sense that your friend would see the less developed Southeast as more like Ireland than Boston. Especially in the winter and spring --- not so much in summer, lol.
In addition, the rural parts of the Southeast are more open farmland like Ireland. Much of New England has changed back into woodlands. However, if you walk into those woodlands you will find old stone walls dividing old farm fields just like you can find in Ireland.
Regarding the accents, I have to disagree with you. I read somewhere that the Boston/Eastern New England accent was heavily influenced by Irish immigrants. This is also true of New York City to a lesser extent. The Southern accent on the other hand has been developing for centuries.
I've read that it was the Scottish that developed the Southern accent here in America...
Savannah, Georgia has a large Irish population...And some that still speak the irish...the wife of a freind of mine's grandfather was from Ireland and a captain of the Savannah police force and she speaks Irish, though i think it is a dialect that might have died out in Ireland in the early 20th century because some of the words she uses are not in any standard dictionary...In fact it very well may be the Leinster dialect...If you look at the people of Nova Scotia, there is small pckets of Irish speakers, however, the Irish is more akin to middle Irish than modern Irish...also it is the same in New foundland Irish...
The city with the most Gingers is the number 1 Irish American city in the U.S.
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