Blog #9
The descendants of the Irish eventually came into the mainstream of American civilization, however it was not accomplished easily. In fact history will support the fact that schooling played a very important role in their assimilation. The Irish were fleeing starvation and seeking new forms of employment. They occupied the lowest tiers of the working class, often competing with African Americans for jobs. Irish women worked as household domestics, cleaning homes of middle-class urbanites, further reinforcing impressions of their servile standing. Furthermore, the Irish were more likely than any other major group in New York to land in the city’s jails, and they constituted a disproportionate share of the homeless. There was no doubt that the Irish had an enormous plight to climb when considering all their setbacks and misfortunes. However, with hard work the living conditions and social status of the Irish eventually improved. Despite the predicament of their Irish parents, children were often able to find opportunities for advancement. The second generation moved into the skilled trades, becoming bricklayers and carpenters, plumbers and masons, which were all jobs requiring learned skills, apprenticeship, and not through study or knowledge from books. These jobs in turn afforded the Irish a higher standard of living. If they were willing to work hard they could get ahead.
Another process that contributed to the Irish becoming part of the American mainstream was when they left crowed cities in the East for communities in the West where opportunity abounded and discriminatory stereotypes were less common. The gradual success of the Irish eventually led to better school attendance for their children and further occupational mobility. As a consequence of greater educational accomplishment, second- and third- generation of Irish Americans began to achieve a degree of occupational equivalence with the general population.