People of Irish descent form the largest single ethnic group in Massachusetts, and one of largest in Boston. Once a Puritan stronghold, Boston changed dramatically in the 19th century with the arrival of immigrants from other parts of Europe. The Irish dominated the first wave of newcomers during this period, especially following the Great Irish Famine. Their arrival transformed Boston from an Anglo-Saxon, Protestant city into one that has become progressively more diverse. These people hired Irish as workers and servants, but there was little social interaction. In the 1840s and 50s, the anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant Know Nothing movement targeted Irish Catholics in Boston. In the 1860s, many Irish immigrants fought for the Union in the American Civil War, and that display of patriotism helped to dispel much of the prejudice against them.
With an expanding population, group loyalty, and block-by-block political organization, the Irish took political control of the city, leaving the Yankees in charge of finance, business, and higher education. The Irish left their mark on the region in a number of ways: in still heavily Irish neighborhoods such as Charlestown and South Boston; in the name of the local basketball team, the Boston Celtics; in the iconic Irish-American political family, the Kennedys; in a large number of prominent local politicians, such as James Michael Curley; and in the establishment of Catholic Boston College.
History
Early America
The Catholic Irish have been in Boston since colonial times, when they arrived as indentured servants, mostly women and children, as opposed to those of Scots-Irish Protestant ancestry who were merchants, sailors, or tradesmen. According to historian James Cullen, a large number of Irish immigrants arrived as early as 1654, on the ship Goodfellow, and were "sold" into indentured servitude "to such of the inhabitants as needed them." one of these Irish may have been Ann Glover
Most of the early arrivals were Presbyterians from Ulster who came seeking relief from high rents, repressive taxes, and other pressures. Wary of Boston's Anglo-Saxon Puritans, who were hostile to the Irish, many moved to the outer fringes of the Bay Colony and founded towns such as Bangor and Belfast in Maine, and Londonderry and Derry in New Hampshire. The few Irish Catholics who settled in the Boston area had to convert or hide their identity, since Catholicism was outlawed. Other Irish immigrants may have come to Boston involuntarily, after being kidnapped by pirates. The Boston News-Letter announced an auction of Irish boys in 1730, and women convicts deported from Belfast were sold in Boston in 1749. Conflation of such immigrants, indentures, and convicts has given rise to the Irish slaves myth.
On March 17, 1737, after a particularly harsh winter, a group of Irish Protestants met in Boston to organize the Charitable Irish Society. Its mission was to provide loans and other assistance to Irish immigrants who were elderly, sick, or in need. The gathering was the first known observance of St. Patrick's Day in the Thirteen Colonies. Still in existence, the society is the oldest Irish organization in North America.
Once the Irish had proved their loyalty by fighting in the American Revolutionary War, they were more welcome in Boston and better able to assimilate—provided, of course, that they were Protestants. According to historian Michael J. O'Brien, hundreds of Irish Americans fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill. One son of Irish immigrants, John Sullivan, served under George Washington and became a brigadier general. According to local legend, Sullivan used "Saint Patrick" as the official password when he led Colonial troops into town following the British evacuation of Boston in 1776. Boston still celebrates the event each year on Evacuation Day, which coincides with Saint Patrick's Day. Sullivan's brother, James Sullivan, was elected governor of Massachusetts in 1807.
19th century
A wave of Irish immigration to Boston started in the 1820s. Initially most of the newcomers were Protestants, but increasingly they were joined by Catholics. From the start, there were problems. The "papists" were seen as both a spiritual and a political threat, and the locals reacted accordingly. Gangs of militant Protestants roamed the streets of Irish neighborhoods, damaging property and even destroying several houses. Preachers railed from the pulpit against the "blasphemy" and "idolatry" of Roman Catholicism, and local newspapers fanned the flames by printing anti-Catholic propaganda, filled with wild conspiracy theories about the Jesuits.