document_title: Irish Americans

question_text: the mass emigration of the irish in the mid-19th century was primarily a result of

question_tokens: the mass emigration of the irish in the mid-19th century was primarily a result of

text: Irish Americans

text: Irish immigration to the United States[edit]

text: 17th to mid-19th century[edit]

text: Many colonial settlers around half came from the Irish province of Ulster while the other half came from the other three provinces of Ireland.[9] they all came to be known in the United States as the "Scots-Irish" even those with no Scottish ancestry at all and so the term is ambiguous, the term scots-irish was created in the 19th century to differentiate between protestant Irish and the later Catholic Irish,[10]there is no way to determine how many of these early settlers were of native Irish ancestry or descends from the ulster plantation. although Micheal j o'brien examined many of the muster rolls and found mostly quintessential native irish surnames & possible anglicized irish surnames, he estimated that some 38% of those in the revolutionary army were irish,[11] most descendants of the protestant Irish today identify their ancestry as simply "American" or "Irish",[12][13]they were descendants of Native Irish, Scottish and English tenant farmers who had been settled in Ireland by the British government during the 17th-century Plantation of Ulster.[14] An estimated 250,000 migrated to the United States during the colonial era. Only 20,000 immigrants of these immigrants from Ireland were Catholics—English, Irish or a few Germans. Catholics numbered 40,000 or 1.6% of the total population of 2.5 million in 1775. However religious numbers should be noted in context that at this period of time the Roman Catholic religion was proscribed and discouraged and that many Protestants are descendants of Catholics by logical definition.[15] The Scots-Irish settled mainly in the colonial "back country" of the Appalachian Mountain region, and became the prominent ethnic strain in the culture that developed there.[16] The descendants of Scots-Irish settlers had a great influence on the later culture of the Southern United States in particular and the culture of the United States in general through such contributions as American folk music, country and western music, and stock car racing, which became popular throughout the country in the late 20th century.[17]

text: Irish immigrants of this period participated in significant numbers in the American Revolution, leading one British major general to testify at the House of Commons that "half the rebel Continental Army were from Ireland."[18] Irish Americans signed the foundational documents of the United States—the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution—and, beginning with Andrew Jackson, served as President.

text: The early Ulster immigrants and their descendants at first usually referred to themselves simply as "Irish", without the qualifier "Scotch". It was not until more than a century later, following the surge in Irish immigration after the Great Irish Famine of the 1840s, that some descendants of the Protestant Irish began to refer to themselves as "Scots-Irish" to distinguish them from the predominantly Catholic, and largely destitute, wave of immigrants from Ireland in that era.[19] However, most descendants of the Scots-Irish continued to consider themselves "Irish" or "American" rather than Scots-Irish.[20] The two groups had little initial interaction in America, as the 18th-century Ulster immigrants were predominantly Protestant and had become settled largely in upland regions of the American interior, while the huge wave of 19th-century Catholic immigrant families settled primarily in the Northeast and Midwest port cities such as Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Buffalo, or Chicago. However, beginning in the early 19th century, many Irish migrated individually to the interior for work on large-scale infrastructure projects such as canals and, later in the century, railroads.[21]

text: Irish in the South[edit]

text: During the colonial period, Scots-Irish settled in the southern Appalachian backcountry and in the Carolina Piedmont.[22] They became the primary cultural group in these areas, and their descendants were in the vanguard of westward movement through Virginia into Tennessee and Kentucky, and thence into Arkansas, Missouri and Texas. By the 19th century, through intermarriage with settlers of English and German ancestry, the descendants of the Scots-Irish lost their identification with Ireland. "This generation of pioneers...was a generation of Americans, not of Englishmen or Germans or Scots-Irish."[23]

text: In 1820 Irish-born John England became the first Catholic bishop in the mainly Protestant city of Charleston, South Carolina. During the 1820s and '30s, Bishop England defended the Catholic minority against Protestant prejudices. In 1831 and 1835, he established free schools for free African American children. Inflamed by the propaganda of the American Anti-Slavery Society, a mob raided the Charleston post office in 1835 and the next day turned its attention to England's school. England led Charleston's "Irish Volunteers" to defend the school. Soon after this, however, all schools for "free blacks" were closed in Charleston, and England acquiesced.[24]

text: The Irish Catholics concentrated in a few medium-sized cities, where they were highly visible, especially in Charleston, Savannah and New Orleans.[25][26] They often became precinct leaders in the Democratic Party Organizations, strongly opposed abolition of slavery, and generally favored preserving the Union in 1860, when they voted for Stephen Douglas.[27]

text: After secession in 1861, the Irish Catholic community supported the Confederacy and 20,000 served in the Confederate Army. Gleason says:

text: Support for Irish Confederate soldiers from home was vital both for encouraging them to stay in the army and to highlight to native white southerners that the entire Irish community was behind the Confederacy. Civilian leaders of the Irish and the South did embrace the Confederate national project and most became advocates of a 'hard-war' policy.[28]

text: Irish nationalist John Mitchel lived in Tennessee and Virginia during his exile from Ireland and was one of the South's most outspoken supporters during the American Civil War through his newspapers the Southern Citizen and the Richmond Enquirer.[29]

text: Although most began as unskilled laborers, Irish Catholics in the South achieved average or above average economic status by 1900. David T. Gleeson emphasizes how well they were accepted by society:

text: Native tolerance, however, was also a very important factor in Irish integration [into Southern society].... Upper-class southerners, therefore, did not object to the Irish, because Irish immigration never threatened to overwhelm their cities or states.... The Irish were willing to take on potentially high-mortality occupations, thereby sparing valuable slave property. Some employers objected not only to the cost of Irish labor but also to the rowdiness of their foreign-born employees. Nevertheless, they recognized the importance of the Irish worker to the protection of slavery.... The Catholicism practiced by Irish immigrants was of little concern to Southern natives.[30]

text: Mid-19th century and later[edit]

text:
Irish immigration to the United States (1820–2004)

Period
Number of
immigrants
Period
Number of
immigrants

1820–1830
54,338
1911–1920
146,181

1831–1840
207,381
1921–1930
211,234

1841–1850
780,719
1931–1940
10,973

1851–1860
914,119
1941–1950
19,789

1861–1870
435,778
1951–1960
48,362

1871–1880
436,871
1961–1970
32,996

1881–1890
655,482
1971–1980
11,940

1891–1900
388,416
1981–1990
31,969

1901–1910
399,065
1991–2004
62,447

Total : 4,787,580

[citation needed]

tag: table

text: Irish immigration had greatly increased beginning in the 1820s due to the need for labor in canal building, lumbering, and civil construction works in the Northeast.[31] The large Erie Canal project was one such example where Irishmen were many of the laborers. Small but tight communities developed in growing cities such as Philadelphia, Boston, New York and Providence.

text: From 1820 to 1860, 1,956,557 Irish arrived, 75% of these after the Great Irish Famine (or The Great Hunger, Irish: An Gorta Mór) of 1845–1852, struck.[32]

text: Of the total Irish immigrants to the U.S. from 1820 to 1860, many died crossing the ocean due to disease and dismal conditions of what became known as coffin ships.[31]

text: Most Irish immigrants to the United States during this period favored large cities because they could create their own communities for support and protection in a new environment.[33] Another reason for this trend was that many Irish immigrants could not afford to move inland and had to settle close to the ports at which they arrived.[34] Cities with large numbers of Irish immigrants included Boston, Philadelphia, and New York, as well as Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, St. Louis, St. Paul, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

text: While many Irish did stay near large cities, countless others were part of westward expansion. They were enticed by tales of gold, and by the increasing opportunities for work and land. In 1854, the government opened Kansas Territory to settlers.[35] While many people in general moved to take advantage of the unsettled land, Irish were an important part. Many Irish men were physical laborers. In order to civilize the west, many strong men were needed to build the towns and cities. Kansas City was one city that was built by Irish immigrants.[35] Much of its population today is of Irish descent. Another reason for Irish migration west was the expansion of railroads. Railway work was a common occupation among immigrant men because workers were in such high demand. Many Irish men followed the expansion of railroads, and ended up settling in places that they built in.[36] Since the Irish were a large part of those Americans moving west, much of their culture can still be found today.

text: The Irish were having a huge impact on America as a whole. In 1910, there were more people in New York City of Irish ancestry than Dublin's whole population, and even today, many of these cities still retain a substantial Irish American community.[37] Mill towns such as Lawrence, Lowell, and Pawtucket attracted many Irish women in particular. The anthracite Coal Region of northeastern Pennsylvania saw a massive influx of Irish during this time period; conditions in the mines eventually gave rise to groups such as the Molly Maguires. The best urban economic opportunities for unskilled Irish women and men included "factory and millwork, domestic service, and the physical labor of public work projects."[38]

text: During the mid-1900s Irish immigration to the United States began to decrease. From the years of 1941–1950, there were only 1,000,000 immigrants in total, and only 68,151 of them were coming from Ireland. These immigrants from Ireland were coming to the U.S. for the same reasons as those before them; they came looking for jobs.[39]

text: Civil War through early 20th century[edit]

text: A second wave of post-famine Irish immigration, resulting largely from a changing rural economy and the lure of high-paying jobs in America, continued from 1855 to 1921, when the Emergency Immigration Acts of 1921 and 1924 imposed a "quota system" that significantly limited immigration. These later immigrants mostly settled in industrial towns and cities of the Northeastern, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwestern United States where Irish American neighborhoods had previously been established.[40][41]

text: During the American Civil War, Irish Americans volunteered in high numbers for the Union Army, and at least 38 Union regiments had the word "Irish" in their title. 144,221 Union soldiers were born in Ireland; additionally, perhaps an equal number were of Irish descent.[42] Many immigrant soldiers formed their own regiments, such as the Irish Brigade.[43][44][45]

text: General John McCausland was a notable brigadier general for the Confederate States Army during the Civil War. He was the son of an Irish immigrant.

text: However, conscription was resisted by many Irish Catholics as an imposition.[44][45] When the conscription law was passed in 1863, major draft riots erupted in New York. It coincided with the efforts of the city's dominant political machine, Tammany Hall, to enroll Irish immigrants as citizens so they could vote in local elections.[46] Many such immigrants suddenly discovered they were now expected to fight for their new country.[47] The Irish, employed primarily as laborers, were usually unable to afford the $300 as a "commutation fee" to procure a replacement for service.[48] Many of the Irish viewed blacks as competition for scarce jobs, and as the reason why the Civil War was being fought.[49] African Americans who fell into the mob's hands were often beaten or killed.[50][51] The Colored Orphan Asylum on Fifth Avenue, which provided shelter for hundreds of children, was attacked by a mob. It was seen as a "symbol of white charity to blacks and of black upward mobility," reasons enough for its destruction at the hands of a predominantly Irish mob which looked upon African Americans as direct social and economic competitors.[52] Fortunately, the largely Irish-American police force was able to secure the orphanage for enough time to allow orphans to escape.[50][53]

text: In the Confederacy, the Irish Catholics were first reluctant to support secession; most voted for Stephen Douglas in 1860 presidential election. However several bishops were enthusiastic supporters of the Confederacy, and the Irish volunteered for service. Gleeson wrote that they had higher desertion rates than non-Irish, and sometimes switched sides, suggesting a tepid support for the Confederacy.[54] During Reconstruction, however, they took a strong position in favor of white supremacy, and played major roles in attacking blacks in riots in Memphis and New Orleans.[55][56][57]

text: In 1871, New York's Orange Riots resulted from Irish Protestants celebrating the British victory at the Battle of the Boyne with parades through Irish Catholic neighborhoods, taunting the residents who then responded with violence. Police Superintendent James J. Kelso, a Protestant, ordered the parade cancelled as a threat to public safety. Kelso was overruled by the governor, who ordered out 5000 militia to protect the marchers.[58] The Catholics attacked but were stopped by the militia and police, who opened fire killing about 63 Catholics.[59]

text: Relations between the U.S. and Britain were chilly during the 1860s as Americans resented British and Canadian support for the Confederacy during the Civil War. After the war American authorities looked the other way as Irish Catholic "Fenians" plotted and even attempted an invasion of Canada.[60] The Fenians proved a failure, but Irish Catholic politicians, a growing power in the Democratic Party, demanded more independence for Ireland and made anti-British rhetoric—called "twisting the lion's tail"—a staple of election campaign appeals to the Irish Catholic vote.[61]

text: The Irish-American immigration of women

text: The Irish people were the first of many to immigrate to the U.S. in mass waves, including large groups of single young women between the ages of 16 and 24.[62] Up until this point, free women who settled in the colonies mostly came after their husbands had already made the journey and could afford their trip, or were brought over to be married to an eligible colonist who paid for their journey. Many Irish fled their home country to escape unemployment and starvation during the Great Irish Famine.[63] The richest of the Irish resettled in England, where their skilled work was greatly accepted, but lower class Irish and women could find little work in Western Europe, leading them to cross the Atlantic in search of greater financial opportunities.[64]

text: Women at this time were largely considered to be "unskilled" workers.[clarification needed] Many Irish women would resort to working in factories doing "slopwork"[citation needed] for very low wages.[original research?] Working in a factory meant long hours in deplorable conditions and more often than not Irish women were verbally and sexually assaulted by their managers.[65] Some Irish women resorted to prostitution in higher populated cities such as Boston, MA and New York City, NY.[original research?] Most of the single Irish women preferred service labor as a form of income. These women made a higher wage than most by serving the middle and high-class in their own homes as nannies, cooks and cleaners. The wages for domestic service may have been higher than that of factory workers, but the freedoms were virtually nonexistent as women were made to live with their employers family and work around the clock. By 1870, forty percent of Irish women worked as domestic servants in New York City, making them over fifty percent of the service industry at the time.[66]

text: Irish men and women both had a hard time finding skilled work in the U.S. due to the stigmas of being both Irish as well as Catholic.[original research?] Prejudices ran deep in the north and could be seen in newspaper cartoons depicting Irish men as drunkards and Irish women as prostitutes. Many businesses hung signs out front of their shops that read "No Irish Need Apply", or "NINA" for short.[67] The initial backlash the Irish received in America lead to their self-imposed seclusion, making assimilation into society a long and painful process.[63]

text: Language[edit]

text: Down to the end of the 19th century a large number of Irish immigrants arrived speaking Irish as their first language. This continued to be the case with immigrants from certain counties even in the 20th century. The Irish language was first mentioned as being spoken in North America in the 17th century. Large numbers of Irish emigrated to America throughout the 18th century, bringing the language with them, and it was particularly strong in Pennsylvania.[68] It was also widely spoken in such places as New York City, where it proved a useful recruiting tool for Loyalists during the American Revolution.[69][70]

text: Irish speakers continued to arrive in large numbers throughout the 19th century, particularly after the Famine. There was a certain amount of literacy in Irish, as shown by the many Irish-language manuscripts which immigrants brought with them. In 1881 An Gaodhal was founded, being the first newspaper in the world to be largely in Irish. It continued to be published into the 20th century,[71] and now has an online successor in An Gael, an international literary magazine.[72] A number of Irish immigrant newspapers in the 19th and 20th centuries had Irish language columns.

text: Irish immigrants fell into three linguistic categories: monolingual Irish speakers, bilingual speakers of both Irish and English, and monolingual English speakers.[73] Estimates indicate that there were around 400,000 Irish speakers in the United States in the 1890s, located primarily in New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago and Yonkers.[74] The Irish-speaking population of New York reached its height in this period, when speakers of Irish numbered between 70,000 and 80,000.[75] This number declined during the early 20th century, dropping to 40,000 in 1939, 10,000 in 1979, and 5,000 in 1995.[76]

text: According to the 2000 census, the Irish language ranks 66th out of the 322 languages spoken today in the U.S., with over 25,000 speakers. New York state has the most Irish speakers of the 50 states, and Massachusetts the highest percentage.[77]

text: Daltaí na Gaeilge, a nonprofit Irish language advocacy group based in Elberon, New Jersey, estimated that about 30,000 people spoke the language in America as of 2006. This, the organization claimed, was a remarkable increase from only a few thousand at the time of the group's founding in 1981.[78]

text: Occupations[edit]

text:
Part of a series of articles on

Celts and Modern Celts

Celtic nations
Celtic studies
Celtic Tribes

Nations[show]

Celtic nations

Ireland (Éire)
Scotland (Alba)
Wales (Cymru)
Brittany (Breizh)
Cornwall (Kernow)
Isle of Man (Mannin)

Religion[show]

Celtic polytheism
Celtic Christianity
Celtic Rite

Texts and chronicles[show]

Annals of the Four Masters
Lebor Gabála Érenn
Book of Kells
Gaelic literature
Early Irish literature
Irish literature
Scottish Gaelic literature
Irish-language literature

Politics[show]
Celtic League

Celtic art[show]

Celtic art

Celtic knot
Triple spiral
Celtic cross
Celtic maze
Pictish stones

Languages[show]

Celtic languages

Brittonic
Breton
Cornish
Welsh

Goidelic
Irish
Manx
Scottish Gaelic

Mixed
Shelta
Bungi Creole

Society[show]

Pan-Celticism
Celtic Revival
Celtic calendar
Celtic law
Carn
Gaelic clothing and fashion
Gaelic warfare
Celtic warfare
Celtic Connections
Celtic Congress

Music[show]

Celtic music

Bagpipes
Jig
Celtic fusion
Celtic rock
Celtic punk
Welsh bagpipes

v
t
e

text: Before 1800, significant numbers of Irish Protestant immigrants became farmers; many headed to the frontier where land was cheap or free and it was easier to start a farm or herding operation.[79] Many Irish Protestants and Catholics alike were indentured servants, unable to pay their own passage or sentenced to servitude.[80]

text: After 1840, most Irish Catholic immigrants went directly to the cities, mill towns, and railroad or canal construction sites on the East Coast. In upstate New York, the Great Lakes area, the Midwest and the Far West, many became farmers or ranchers. In the East, male Irish laborers were hired by Irish contractors to work on canals, railroads, streets, sewers and other construction projects, particularly in New York state and New England. The Irish men also worked in these labor positions in the mid-west. They worked to construct towns where there had been none previously. Kansas city was one such town, and eventually became an important cattle town and railroad center.[35] Labor positions weren't the only occupations for Irish though. Some moved to New England mill towns, such as Holyoke, Lowell, Taunton, Brockton, Fall River, and Milford, Massachusetts, where owners of textile mills welcomed the new low-wage workers. They took the jobs previously held by Yankee women known as Lowell girls.[81][82][83] A large fraction of Irish Catholic women took jobs as maids in hotels and private households.[25]

text: Large numbers of unemployed or very poor Irish Catholics lived in squalid conditions in the new city slums and tenements.[84]

text: Single, Irish immigrant women quickly assumed jobs in high demand but for very low pay. The majority of them worked in mills, factories, and private households and were considered the bottommost group in the female job hierarchy, alongside African American women. Workers considered mill work in cotton textiles and needle trades the least desirable because of the dangerous and unpleasant conditions. Factory work was primarily a worst-case scenario for widows or daughters of families already involved in the industry.[85] Unlike many other immigrants, Irish women preferred domestic work because it was constantly in great demand among middle- and upper-class American households.[86] Although wages differed across the country, they were consistently higher than those of the other occupations available to Irish women and could often be negotiated because of the lack of competition. Also, the working conditions in well-off households were significantly better than those of factories or mills, and free room and board allowed domestic servants to save money or send it back to their families in Ireland.[87]

text: Despite some of the benefits of domestic work, Irish women's job requirements were difficult and demeaning. Subject to their employers around the clock, Irish women cooked, cleaned, babysat and more. Because most servants lived in the home where they worked, they were separated from their communities. Most of all, the American stigma on domestic work suggested that Irish women were failures who had "about the same intelligence as that of an old grey-headed negro." This quote illustrates how, in a period of extreme racism towards African Americans, society similarly viewed Irish immigrants as inferior beings.[88]

text: Although the Irish Catholics started very low on the social status scale, by 1900 they had jobs and earnings about equal on average to their neighbors. This was largely due to their ability to speak English when they arrived. The Irish were able to rise quickly within the working world, unlike non-English speaking immigrants.[89] Yet there were still many shanty and lower working class communities in Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, New York, and other parts of the country.[90]

text: After 1945, the Catholic Irish consistently ranked at the top of the social hierarchy, thanks especially to their high rate of college attendance, and due to that many Irish American men have risen to higher socio-economic table.[91]

text: Local government[edit]

text: In the 19th century, jobs in local government were distributed by politicians to their supporters, and with significant strength in city hall the Irish became candidates for positions in all departments, such as police departments, fire departments, public schools and other public services of major cities. In 1897 New York City was formed by consolidating its five boroughs. That created 20,000 new patronage jobs. New York invested heavily in large-scale public works. This produced thousands of unskilled and semi-skilled jobs in subways, street railways, waterworks, and port facilities. Over half the Irish men employed by the city worked in utilities. Across all ethnic groups In New York City, municipal employment grew from 54,000 workers in 1900 to 148,000 in 1930.[92] In New York City, Albany, and Jersey City, about one third of the Irish of the first and second generation had municipal jobs in 1900.[93]

text: Police[edit]

text: By 1855, according to New York Police Commissioner George W. Matsell (1811–1877),[94] almost 17 percent of the police department's officers were Irish-born (compared to 28.2 percent of the city) in a report to the Board of Aldermen;[95] of the NYPD's 1,149 men, Irish-born officers made up 304 of 431 foreign-born policemen.[25] In the 1860s more than half of those arrested in New York City were Irish born or of Irish descent but nearly half of the city's law enforcement officers were also Irish. By the turn of the 20th century, five out of six NYPD officers were Irish born or of Irish descent. As late as the 1960s, 42% of the NYPD were Irish Americans.[96]

text: Up to the 20th and early 21st century, Irish Catholics continue to be prominent in the law enforcement community, especially in the Northeastern United States. The Emerald Society, an Irish American fraternal organization, was founded in 1953 by the NYPD.[97] When the Boston chapter of the Emerald Society formed in 1973, half of the city's police officers became members.

text: Teachers[edit]

text: Towards the end of the 19th century, schoolteaching became the most desirable occupation for the second generation of female Irish immigrants. Teaching was similar to domestic work for the first generation of Irish immigrants in that it was a popular job and one that relied on a woman's decision to remain unmarried.[98] The disproportionate number of Irish-American Catholic women who entered the job market as teachers in the late 19th century and early 20th century from Boston to San Francisco was a beneficial result of the Irish National school system. Irish schools prepared young single women to support themselves in a new country, which inspired them to instill the importance of education, college training, and a profession in their American-born daughters even more than in their sons. Evidence from schools in New York City illustrate the upward trend of Irish women as teachers: "as early as 1870, twenty percent of all schoolteachers were Irish women, and...by 1890 Irish females comprised two-thirds of those in the Sixth Ward schools." Irish women attained admirable reputations as schoolteachers, which enabled some to pursue professions of even higher stature.[99]

text: Nuns[edit]

text: Upon arrival in the United States, many Irish women became Catholic nuns and participated in the many American sisterhoods, especially those in St. Louis in Missouri, St. Paul in Minnesota, and Troy in New York. Additionally, the women who settled in these communities were often sent back to Ireland to recruit. This kind of religious lifestyle appealed to Irish female immigrants because they outnumbered their male counterparts and the Irish cultural tendency to postpone marriage often promoted gender separation and celibacy. Furthermore, "the Catholic church, clergy, and women religious were highly respected in Ireland," making the sisterhoods particularly attractive to Irish immigrants.[100] Nuns provided extensive support for Irish immigrants in large cities, especially in fields such as nursing and teaching but also through orphanages, widows' homes, and housing for young, single women in domestic work.[101] Although many Irish communities built parish schools run by nuns, the majority of Irish parents in large cities in the East enrolled their children in the public school system, where daughters or granddaughters of Irish immigrants had already established themselves as teachers.[102]

text: Religion[edit]

text: Religion has been important to the Irish American identity in America, and continues to play a major role in their communities. Irish Americans today are predominantly Protestant with a Catholic minority. The Protestants' ancestors arrived primarily in the colonial era, while Catholics are primarily descended from immigrants of the 19th century. Irish leaders have been prominent in the Catholic Church in the United States for over 150 years. The Irish have been leaders in the Presbyterian and Methodist traditions, as well.[103]

text: Surveys in the 1990s show that of Americans who identify themselves as "Irish", 51% said they were Protestant and 36% identified as Catholic. In the South, Protestants account for 73% of those claiming Irish origins, while Catholics account for 19%. It is common for Protestant Scotch-Irish Americans to call themselves "Irish", in particular because most immigration to colonial America was of Protestant settlers, so there was no need to distinguish themselves from Irish Catholics. In the North, 45% of those claiming Irish origin are Catholic, while 39% are Protestant.[103] Many African Americans and Native Americans claim Irish Protestant or Scots-Irish ancestry.[104]

text: Irish Catholic and Irish Protestant relations[edit]

text: Between 1607 and 1820, the majority of emigrants from Ireland to America were Protestants[105] who were described simply as "Irish".[106] The religious distinction became important after 1820,[107] when large numbers of Irish Catholics began to emigrate to the United States. Some of the descendants of the colonial Irish Protestant settlers from Ulster began thereafter to redefine themselves as "Scotch Irish", to stress their historic origins, and distanced themselves from Irish Catholics;[108] others continued to call themselves Irish, especially in areas of the South which saw little Irish Catholic immigration. By 1830, Irish diaspora demographics had changed rapidly, with over 60% of all Irish settlers in the US being Catholics from rural areas of Ireland.[109]

text: Some Protestant Irish immigrants became active in explicitly anti-Catholic organizations such as the Orange Institution and the American Protective Association. However, participation in the Orange Institution was never as large in the United States as it was in Canada.[110] In the early nineteenth century, the post-Revolutionary republican spirit of the new United States attracted exiled United Irishmen such as Theobald Wolf Tone and others, with the presidency of Andrew Jackson exemplifying this attitude.[111] Most Protestant Irish immigrants in the first several decades of the nineteenth century were those who held to the republicanism of the 1790s, and who were unable to accept Orangeism. Loyalists and Orangemen made up a minority of Irish Protestant immigrants to the United States during this period. Most of the Irish loyalist emigration was bound for Upper Canada and the Canadian Maritime provinces, where Orange lodges were able to flourish under the British flag.[110]

text: By 1870, when there were about 930 Orange lodges in the Canadian province of Ontario, there were only 43 in the entire eastern United States. These few American lodges were founded by newly arriving Protestant Irish immigrants in coastal cities such as Philadelphia and New York.[112] These ventures were short-lived and of limited political and social impact, although there were specific instances of violence involving Orangemen between Catholic and Protestant Irish immigrants, such as the Orange Riots in New York City in 1824, 1870 and 1871.[113]

text: The first "Orange riot" on record was in 1824, in Abingdon Square, New York, resulting from a 12 July march. Several Orangemen were arrested and found guilty of inciting the riot. According to the State prosecutor in the court record, "the Orange celebration was until then unknown in the country." The immigrants involved were admonished: "In the United States the oppressed of all nations find an asylum, and all that is asked in return is that they become law-abiding citizens. Orangemen, Ribbonmen, and United Irishmen are alike unknown. They are all entitled to protection by the laws of the country."[114]

text: The later Orange Riots of 1870 and 1871 killed nearly 70 people, and were fought out between Irish Protestant and Catholic immigrants. After this the activities of the Orange Order were banned for a time, the Order dissolved, and most members joined Masonic orders. After 1871, there were no more riots between Irish Catholics and Protestants.[115]

text: America offered a new beginning, and "...most descendents of the Ulster Presbyterians of the eighteenth century and even many new Protestant Irish immigrants turned their backs on all associations with Ireland and melted into the American Protestant mainstream."[116]

text: Catholics[edit]

text: Irish priests (especially Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians and Capuchins) came to the large cities of the East in the 1790s, and when new dioceses were erected in 1808 the first bishop of New York was an Irishman in recognition of the contribution of the early Irish clergy.[117]

text: Saint Patrick's Battalion (San Patricios) was a group of several hundred immigrant soldiers, the majority Irish, who deserted the U.S. Army during the Mexican–American War because of ill treatment or sympathetic leanings to fellow Mexican Catholics. They joined the Mexican army.[118]

text: In Boston between 1810 and 1840 there had been serious tensions between the bishop and the laity who wanted to control the local parishes. By 1845, the Catholic population in Boston had increased to 30,000 from around 5,000 in 1825, due to the influx of Irish immigrants. With the appointment of John B. Fitzpatrick as bishop in 1845, tensions subsided as the increasingly Irish Catholic community grew to support Fitzpatrick's assertion of the bishop's control of parish government.[119]

text: In New York, Archbishop John Hughes (1797–1864), an Irish immigrant himself, was deeply involved in "the Irish question"—Irish independence from British rule. Hughes supported Daniel O'Connell's Catholic emancipation movement in Ireland, but rejected such radical and violent societies as the Young Irelanders and the National Brotherhood. Hughes also disapproved of American Irish radical fringe groups, urging immigrants to assimilate themselves into American life while remaining patriotic to Ireland "only individually".[120] In Hughes's view, a large-scale movement to form Irish settlements in the western United States was too isolationist and ultimately detrimental to immigrants' success in the New World.[121]

text: In the 1840s, Hughes crusaded for public-funded Irish Schools modeled after the successful Irish public school system in Lowell, Massachusetts. Hughes denounced the Public School Society of New York as an extension of an Old-World struggle whose outcome was directed not by understanding of the basic problems but, rather, by mutual mistrust and violently inflamed emotions. For Irish Catholics, the motivation lay largely in memory of British oppression, while their antagonists were dominated by the English Protestant historic fear of papal interference in civil affairs. Because of the vehemence of this quarrel, the New York Legislature passed the Maclay Act in 1842, giving New York City an elective Board of Education empowered to build and supervise schools and distribute the education fund—but with the proviso that none of the money should go to schools which taught religion. Hughes responded by building an elaborate parochial school system that stretched to the college level, setting a policy followed in other large cities. Efforts to get city or state funding failed because of vehement Protestant opposition to a system that rivaled the public schools.[122]

text: In the west, Catholic Irish were having a large effect as well. The open west attracted many Irish immigrants. Many of these immigrants were Catholic. When they migrated west, they would form "little pockets" with other Irish immigrants.[35] Irish Catholic communities were made in "supportive, village style neighborhoods centered around a Catholic church and called 'parishes'".[35] These neighborhoods affected the overall lifestyle and atmosphere of the communities. Other ways religion played a part in these towns was the fact that many were started by Irish Catholic priests. Father Bernard Donnelly started "Town of Kansas" which would later become Kansas City. His influence over early stages Kansas City was great, and so the Catholic religion was spread to other settlers who arrived.[35] While not all settlers became Catholics, a great number of the early settlers were Catholic. In other western communities, Irish priests wanted to convert the Native Americans to Catholicism.[35] These Catholic Irish would contribute not only to the growth of Catholic population in America, but to the values and traditions in America.

text: Jesuits established a network of colleges in major cities, including Boston College, Fordham University in New York, and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Fordham was founded in 1841 and attracted students from other regions of the United States, and even South America and the Caribbean. At first exclusively a liberal arts institution, it built a science building in 1886, lending more legitimacy to science in the curriculum there. In addition, a three-year bachelor of science degree was created.[123] Boston College, by contrast, was established over twenty years later in 1863 to appeal to urban Irish Catholics. It offered a rather limited intellectual curriculum, however, with the priests at Boston College prioritizing spiritual and sacramental activities over intellectual pursuits. One consequence was that Harvard Law School would not admit Boston College graduates to its law school. Modern Jesuit leadership in American academia was not to become their hallmark across all institutions until the 20th century.[124]

text: The Irish became prominent in the leadership of the Catholic Church in the U.S. by the 1850s—by 1890 there were 7.3 million Catholics in the U.S. and growing, and most bishops were Irish.[125] As late as the 1970s, when Irish were 17% of American Catholics, they were 35% of the priests and 50% of the bishops, together with a similar proportion of presidents of Catholic colleges and hospitals.[126]

text: Protestants[edit]

text: The Scots-Irish who settled in the back country of colonial America were largely Presbyterians.[127] The establishment of many settlements in the remote back-country put a strain on the ability of the Presbyterian Church to meet the new demand for qualified, college-educated clergy.[128] Religious groups such as the Baptists and Methodists did not require higher education of their ministers, so they could more readily supply ministers to meet the demand of the growing Scots-Irish settlements.[128] By about 1810, Baptist and Methodist churches were in the majority, and the descendants of the Scotch-Irish today remain predominantly Baptist or Methodist.[129] They were avid participants in the revivals taking place during the Great Awakening from the 1740s to the 1840s.[130] They take pride in their Irish heritage because they identify with the values ascribed to the Scotch-Irish who played a major role in the American Revolution and in the development of American culture.[103]

text: Presbyterians[edit]

text: The first Presbyterian community in America was established in 1640 in Southampton, Long Island New York.[131] Francis Makemie, an Irish Presbyterian immigrant later established churches in Maryland and Virginia.[132] Makemie was born and raised near Ramelton, County Donegal, to Ulster Scots parents. He was educated in the University of Glasgow and set out to organize and initiate the construction of several Presbyterian Churches throughout Maryland and Virginia. By 1706, Makemie and his followers constructed a Presbyterian Church in Rehobeth, Maryland.[133][134] In 1707, after traveling to New York to establish a presbytery, Francis Makemie was charged with preaching without a license by the English immigrant and Governor of New York, Edward Hyde.[135] Makemie won a vital victory for the fight of religious freedom for Scots-Irish immigrants when he was acquitted and gained recognition for having "stood up to Anglican authorities". Makemie became one of the wealthiest immigrants to colonial America, owning more than 5,000 acres and 33 slaves.[136][137]

text: New Light Presbyterians founded the College of New Jersey, later renamed Princeton University, in 1746 in order to train ministers dedicated to their views. The college was the educational and religious capital of Scots-Irish America.[138] By 1808, loss of confidence in the college within the Presbyterian Church led to the establishment of the separate Princeton Theological Seminary, but deep Presbyterian influence at the college continued through the 1910s, as typified by university president Woodrow Wilson.[139]

text: Out on the frontier, the Scots-Irish Presbyterians of the Muskingum Valley in Ohio established Muskingum College at New Concord in 1837. It was led by two clergymen, Samuel Wilson and Benjamin Waddle, who served as trustees, president, and professors during the first few years. During the 1840s and 1850s the college survived the rapid turnover of very young presidents who used the post as a stepping stone in their clerical careers, and in the late 1850s it weathered a storm of student protest. Under the leadership of L. B. W. Shryock during the Civil War, Muskingum gradually evolved from a local and locally controlled institution to one serving the entire Muskingum Valley. It is still affiliated with the Presbyterian church.[140]

text: Brought up in a Scots-Irish Presbyterian home, Cyrus McCormick of Chicago developed a strong sense of devotion to the Presbyterian Church. Throughout his later life, he used the wealth gained through invention of the mechanical reaper to further the work of the church. His benefactions were responsible for the establishment in Chicago of the Presbyterian Theological Seminary of the Northwest (after his death renamed the McCormick Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church). He assisted the Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. He also supported a series of religious publications, beginning with the Presbyterian Expositor in 1857 and ending with the Interior (later called The Continent), which his widow continued until her death.[141]

text: Methodists[edit]

text: Irish immigrants were the first immigrant group to America to build and organize Methodist churches. Many of the early Irish immigrants who did so came from a German-Irish background. Barbara Heck, an Irish woman of German descent from County Limerick, Ireland, immigrated to America in 1760, with her husband, Paul. She is often considered to be the "Mother of American Methodism."[142] Heck guided and mentored her cousin, Philip Embury, who was also an "Irish Palatine" immigrant.[143] Heck and Embury constructed the John Street Methodist Church, which today is usually recognized as the oldest Methodist Church in the United States.[144] However, another church constructed by prominent Irish Methodist immigrant, Robert Strawbridge, may have preceded the John Street Methodist Church.[145]

text: Discrimination[edit]

text: Catholics and Protestants kept their distance; intermarriage between Catholics and Protestants was uncommon, and strongly discouraged by both Protestant ministers and Catholic priests. As Dolan notes, "'Mixed marriages', as they were called, were allowed in rare cases, were warned against repeatedly, and were uncommon."[147] Rather, intermarriage was primarily with other ethnic groups who shared their religion. Irish Catholics, for example, would commonly intermarry with German Catholics or Poles in the Midwest and Italians in the Northeast.

text: Irish-American journalists "scoured the cultural landscape for evidence of insults directed at the Irish in America." Much of what historians know about hostility to the Irish comes from their reports in Irish and in Democratic newspapers.[148]

text: While the parishes were struggling to build parochial schools, many Catholic children attended public schools. The Protestant King James Version of the Bible was widely used in public schools, but Catholics were forbidden by their church from reading or reciting from it.[149] Many Irish children complained that Catholicism was openly mocked in the classroom. In New York City, the curriculum vividly portrayed Catholics, and specifically the Irish, as villainous.[150] The Catholic archbishop John Hughes, an immigrant to America from County Tyrone, Ireland, campaigned for public funding of Catholic education in response to the bigotry. While never successful in obtaining public money for private education, the debate with the city's Protestant elite spurred by Hughes' passionate campaign paved the way for the secularization of public education nationwide. In addition, Catholic higher education expanded during this period with colleges and universities that evolved into such institutions as Fordham University and Boston College providing alternatives to Irish who were not otherwise permitted to apply to other colleges.

text: Prejudice against Irish Catholics in the U.S. reached a peak in the mid-1850s with the Know Nothing Movement, which tried to oust Catholics from public office. After a year or two of local success, the Know Nothing Party vanished.[151] Some historians, however, maintain that actual job discrimination was minimal.[146]

text: Many Irish work gangs were hired by contractors to build canals, railroads, city streets and sewers across the country.[25] In the South, they underbid slave labor.[152] One result was that small cities that served as railroad centers came to have large Irish populations.[153]

text: In 1895, the Knights of Equity was founded, to combat discrimination against Irish Catholics in the U.S., and to assist them financially when needed.

text: Stereotypes[edit]

text: Irish Catholics were popular targets for stereotyping in the 19th century. According to historian George Potter, the media often stereotyped the Irish in America as being boss-controlled, violent (both among themselves and with those of other ethnic groups), voting illegally, prone to alcoholism and dependent on street gangs that were often violent or criminal. Potter quotes contemporary newspaper images:

text: You will scarcely ever find an Irishman dabbling in counterfeit money, or breaking into houses, or swindling; but if there is any fighting to be done, he is very apt to have a hand in it." Even though Pat might "'meet with a friend and for love knock him down,'" noted a Montreal paper, the fighting usually resulted from a sudden excitement, allowing there was "but little 'malice prepense' in his whole composition." The Catholic Telegraph of Cincinnati in 1853, saying that the "name of 'Irish' has become identified in the minds of many, with almost every species of outlawry," distinguished the Irish vices as "not of a deep malignant nature," arising rather from the "transient burst of undisciplined passion," like "drunk, disorderly, fighting, etc., not like robbery, cheating, swindling, counterfeiting, slandering, calumniating, blasphemy, using obscene language, &c.[154]

text: The Irish had many humorists of their own, but were scathingly attacked in political cartoons, especially those in Puck magazine from the 1870s to 1900; it was edited by secular Germans who opposed the Catholic Irish in politics. In addition, the cartoons of Thomas Nast were especially hostile; for example, he depicted the Irish-dominated Tammany Hall machine in New York City as a ferocious tiger.[155]

text: The stereotype of the Irish as violent drunks has lasted well beyond its high point in the mid-19th century. For example, President Richard Nixon once told advisor Charles Colson that "[t]he Irish have certain — for example, the Irish can't drink. What you always have to remember with the Irish is they get mean. Virtually every Irish I've known gets mean when he drinks. Particularly the real Irish."[156]

text: Discrimination against Irish Americans differed depending on gender. For example, Irish women were sometimes stereotyped as "reckless breeders" because some American Protestants feared high Catholic birth rates would eventually result in a Protestant minority. Many native-born Americans claimed that "their incessant childbearing [would] ensure an Irish political takeover of American cities [and that] Catholicism would become the reigning faith of the hitherto Protestant nation."[157] Irish men were also targeted, but in a different way than women were. The difference between the Irish female "Bridget" and the Irish male "Pat" was distinct; while she was impulsive but fairly harmless, he was "always drunk, eternally fighting, lazy, and shiftless". In contrast to the view that Irish women were shiftless, slovenly and stupid (like their male counterparts), girls were said to be "industrious, willing, cheerful, and honest—they work hard, and they are very strictly moral".[158][159]

text: There were also Darwinian-inspired excuses for the discrimination of the Irish in America. Many Americans believed that since the Irish were Celts and not Anglo-Saxons, they were racially inferior and deserved second-hand citizenship. The Irish being of inferior intelligence was a belief held by many Americans. This notion was held due to the fact that the Irish topped the charts demographically in terms of arrests and imprisonment. They also had more people confined to insane asylums and poorhouses than any other group. The racial supremacy belief that many Americans had at the time contributed significantly to Irish discrimination.[160]

text: Sense of heritage[edit]

text: Many people of Irish descent retain a sense of their Irish heritage. Article 2 of the Constitution of Ireland formally recognizes and embraces this fact:

text: …the Irish Nation cherishes its special affinity with people of Irish ancestry living abroad who share its cultural identity and heritage.

text: Irish independence from Great Britain encouraged the hope that descendants of Irish abroad who had retained a cultural connection and identified with Ireland would resettle there, as opposed to attracting immigrants from other cultures in other countries. One member of an Irish government of the early republic expressed his hope as follows:

text: I do not think [the Irish Free State] will afford sufficient allurements to the citizens of other States ... The children of Irish parents born abroad are sometimes more Irish than the Irish themselves, and they would come with added experience and knowledge to our country....|4=Sen. Patrick Kenny, Seanad Éireann 1924, [161]

text: A sense of exile, diaspora, and (in the case of songs) even nostalgia is a common theme.[162][163] The modern term "Plastic Paddy" generally refers to someone who was not born in Ireland and is separated from his closest Irish-born ancestor by several generations but still considers themselves "Irish". It is occasionally used in a derogatory fashion towards Irish Americans, in an attempt to undermine the "Irishness" of the Irish diaspora based on nationality and (citizenship) rather than ethnicity.[164][165][166] The term is freely applied to relevant people of all nationalities, not solely Irish Americans.

text: Some Irish Americans were enthusiastic supporters of Irish independence; the Fenian Brotherhood movement was based in the United States and in the late 1860s launched several unsuccessful attacks on British-controlled Canada known as the "Fenian Raids".[167] The Provisional IRA received significant funding and volunteers for its paramilitary activities from Irish expatriates and Irish American supporters—in 1984, the US Department of Justice won a court case forcing the Irish American fund-raising organization NORAID to acknowledge the Provisional IRA as its "foreign principal".[168]

text: Cities[edit]

text: Irish Catholic Americans settled in large and small cities throughout the North, particularly railroad centers and mill towns. They became perhaps the most urbanized group in America, as few became farmers.[169] Areas that retain a significant Irish American population include the metropolitan areas of Boston, Philadelphia, Providence, Hartford, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Baltimore, New York City, Chicago, Cleveland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, where most new arrivals of the 1830–1910 period settled. As a percentage of the population, Massachusetts is the most Irish state, with about a quarter, 21.2%, of the population claiming Irish descent.[170] The most Irish American towns in the United States are Scituate, Massachusetts, with 47.5% of its residents being of Irish descent; Milton, Massachusetts, with 44.6% of its 26,000 being of Irish descent; and Braintree, Massachusetts with 46.5% of its 34,000 being of Irish descent. (Weymouth, Massachusetts, at 39% of its 54,000 citizens, and Quincy, Massachusetts, at 34% of its population of 90,000, are the two most Irish cities in the country. Squantum, a peninsula in the northern part of Quincy, is the most Irish neighborhood in the country, with close to 60% of its 2600 residents claiming Irish descent.)[171]

text: Philadelphia, Boston, New York, and Chicago have historically had neighborhoods with higher percentages of Irish American residents. Regionally, the most Irish American states are Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut, according to the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey in 2013.[1] In consequence of its unique history as a mining center, Butte, Montana, is also one of the country's most thoroughly Irish American cities.[172] Smaller towns, such as Greeley, Nebraska (population 466), with an estimated 51.7% of the residents identifying as Irish American as of 2009–13[173][174] were part of the Irish Catholic Colonization effort of Bishop O'Connor of New York in the 1880s.[175]

text: The states with the top percentages of Irish:

text:
Massachusetts (22.5%)
 New Hampshire (20.5%)
 Rhode Island (18.4%)
 Maine (18.0%)
 Vermont (18.0%)
 Delaware (16.7%)
 Pennsylvania (16.6%)
 Connecticut (16.6%)
 New Jersey (15.9%)
 West Virginia (14.8%)
 Montana (14.8%)
 Iowa (13.6%)
 Ohio (13.5%)
 Nebraska (13.4%)
 Wyoming (13.3%)
 Missouri (13.2%)
 New York (12.9%)
 Kansas (12.4%)
 Illinois (12.2%)
 Colorado (12.2%)
 Kentucky (12.2%)
 Oregon (12.1%)
 Maryland (11.7%)
 Indiana (11.6%)
 Oklahoma (11.5%)
 Washington (11.4%)
 Minnesota (11.2%)
 Michigan (11.0%)
 Nevada (11.0%)
 Wisconsin (10.9%)
 Alaska (10.8%)
 Arkansas (10.7%)
 Tennessee (10.6%)
 South Dakota (10.4%)
 Florida (10.3%)
 Arizona (10.2%)
 Idaho (10.0%)
 Virginia (9.8%)
 South Carolina (8.8%)
 Georgia (7.9%)
 Alabama (7.8%)
 California (7.7%)
 North Dakota (7.7%)
 North Carolina (7.5%)
 Texas (7.2%)
 Louisiana (7.0%)
 Mississippi (6.9%)
 Utah (5.9%)
 District of Columbia (5.5%)

text: Notable people[edit]

text: In politics and government[edit]

text: The United States Declaration of Independence contained 56 delegate signatures. Of the signers, eight were of Irish descent. Three signers, Matthew Thornton, George Taylor and James Smith, were born in Ireland; the remaining five Irish Americans, George Read, Thomas McKean, Thomas Lynch, Jr., Edward Rutledge and Charles Carroll, were the sons or grandsons of Irish immigrants. Though not a delegate but the secretary at the Congress, Charles Thompson, also Irish American, signed as well. The Constitution of the United States was created by a convention of 36 delegates. Of these, at least six were Irish American. George Read and Thomas McKean had already worked on the Declaration, and were joined by John Rutledge, Pierce Butler, Daniel Carroll, and Thomas Fitzsimons. The Carrolls and Fitzsimmons were Catholic, the remainder Protestant.[176]

text: By the 1850s, the Irish were already a major presence in the police departments of large cities. In New York City in 1855, of the city's 1,149 policemen, 305 were natives of Ireland. Within 30 years, Irish Americans in the NYPD were almost twice their proportion of the city's population.[25] Both Boston's police and fire departments provided many Irish immigrants with their first jobs. The creation of a unified police force in Philadelphia opened the door to the Irish in that city. By 1860 in Chicago, 49 of the 107 on the police force were Irish. Chief O'Leary headed the police force in New Orleans, and Malachi Fallon was chief of police of San Francisco.[177]

text: The Irish Catholic diaspora are very well-organized[clarification needed] and since 1850 have produced a majority of the leaders of the U.S. Catholic Church, labor unions, the Democratic Party in larger cities, and Catholic high schools, colleges and universities.[178]

text: Many major cities have elected Irish American Catholic mayors. Indeed, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Houston, Newark, New York City, Omaha, Scranton, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Saint Paul, and San Francisco have all elected natives of Ireland as mayors. Chicago, Boston, and Jersey City, New Jersey have had more Irish American mayors than any other ethnic group.[citation needed] The cities of Milwaukee (Tom Barrett; 2004-), St. Paul (Chris Coleman; 2006-), Northampton, Massachusetts (Clare Higgins; 2000-), Rockford, Illinois (Lawrence Morrissey; 2005-) and Detroit (Mike Duggan; 2012-) currently (as of 2016[update]) have Irish American mayors. Pittsburgh mayor Bob O'Connor died in office in 2006. New York City has had at least three Irish-born mayors and over eight Irish American mayors. The most recent one was County Mayo native William O'Dwyer, elected in 1949.[179][180]

text: The Irish Protestant vote has not been studied nearly as much. Historian Timothy J. Meagher argues that by the late 19th century, most of the Protestant Irish "turned their backs on all associations with Ireland and melted into the American Protestant mainstream." A minority insisted on a "Scotch-Irish" identity.[181]

text: In Canada, by contrast, Irish Protestants remained a political force, with many belonging to the Orange Order.[182] It was an anti-Catholic social organization with chapters across Canada. It was most powerful during the late 19th century.[183][184]

text: Political leanings[edit]

text: Al Smith and later John F. Kennedy were the political heroes for Catholics.[185] Al Smith, who had an Irish mother and an English-German father, in 1928 became the first Catholic to run for president.[186] From the 1830s to the 1960s, Irish Catholics voted heavily Democratic, with occasional exceptions like the election of 1920. Their precincts showed average support levels of 80%.[187] As historian Lawrence McCaffrey notes, "until recently they have been so closely associated with the Democratic party that Irish, Catholic, and Democrat composed a trinity of associations, serving mutual interests and needs. "[188]

text: The great majority of Irish Catholic politicians were Democrats, with a few exceptions before 1970 such as Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy.[176] Today, Irish politicians are associated with both parties. Ronald Reagan boasted of his Irishness. Historically, Irish Catholics controlled prominent Democratic city organizations.[189] Among the most prominent were New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Jersey City, and Albany. [190] Many served as chairmen of the Democratic National Committee, including County Monaghan native Thomas Taggart, Vance McCormick, James Farley, Edward J. Flynn, Robert E. Hannegan, J. Howard McGrath, William H. Boyle, Jr., John Moran Bailey, Larry O'Brien, Christopher J. Dodd, Terry McAuliffe and Tim Kaine. In Congress, the Irish are represented in both parties; currently, Susan Collins of Maine, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Bob Casey, Jr. of Pennsylvania, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, and Maria Cantwell of Washington are Irish Americans serving in the United States Senate. Former Vice Presidential Candidate and current Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan is another prominent Irish-American Republican. Exit polls show that in recent presidential elections Irish Catholics have split about 50–50 for Democratic and Republican candidates.[191] The pro-life faction in the Democratic party includes many Irish Catholic politicians, such as the former Boston mayor and ambassador to the Vatican Ray Flynn and senator Bob Casey, Jr., who defeated Senator Rick Santorum in a high visibility race in Pennsylvania in 2006.[192]

text: On one hand, in some areas such as metropolitan New York and Illinois, the most heavily Irish communities now tend to be in the outer suburbs and generally support Republican candidates, such as New Fairfield. On the other, in Massachusetts and elsewhere in Southern New England, significant majorities of the local Irish stayed with the Democratic party.[193] In some heavily Irish small towns in Northern New England the Irish vote is quite Republican, but other places like Gloucester, New Jersey and Butte, Montana which retain strongly liberal and Democratic leaning Irish populations.

text: The voting intentions of Irish Americans and other white ethnic groups attracted attention in the 2016 US election. In the Democratic primaries, Boston's Irish were said to break strongly for Hillary Clinton, whose victories in Irish-heavy Boston suburbs may have helped her narrowly carry the state over Bernie Sanders.[194] A 2016 March survey by Irish Central [195] showed that 45% of Irish Americans nationwide supported Trump, although the majority of those in Massachusetts supported Hillary Clinton. The presence of supporters of Trump among Irish and Italian communities which had once themselves been marginalized immigrants generated controversy, with Irish American and Italian American politicians and columnists admonishing their co-ethnics against "myopia" and "amnesia".[196][197] An October poll by Buzzfeed showed that Irish respondents nationwide split nearly evenly between Trump (40%) and Clinton (39%), with large numbers either undecided or supporting other candidates (21%), and that the Irish were more supportive of Clinton than all the other West European-descended Americans including fellow Catholic Italian Americans.[198] In early November 2016, six days before the election, another poll by IrishCentral showed Clinton ahead at 52% among Irish Americans, while Trump was at 40% and the third party candidates together had 8%; Irish respondents in Massachusetts similarly favored Clinton by majority.[199] In the official 2016 election results, Irish-heavy Boston suburbs including on the South Shore witnessed swings to the left (Scituate: +19.5% D, Cohasset: +32.8% D, Milton: +26.6% D, etc.) even as the country as a whole moved right. This caused many of the most heavily Irish-descended communities in the country, such as Scituate, to flip from split or Republican-voting to Democrat-voting by significant margins (Scituate: +18% D, Hull: +21% D, Cohasset: +24% D, Milton: +41% D). Despite voting against Trump, many of these same communities had some of the highest levels of opposition to the legalization of marijuana, a typically socially conservative position.

text: In 2017, a survey with 3,181 Irish American respondents (slightly over half being beyond 3rd generation) by Irish Times found that 41% identified as Democrats while 23% identified as Republicans, while 45% used NBC (typically considered left-leaning) for their news while 36% used Fox News (considered right-leaning). [200]

text: American presidents with Irish ancestry[edit]

text: A number of the presidents of the United States have Irish origins.[201] The extent of Irish heritage varies. For example, Chester Arthur's father and both of Andrew Jackson's parents were Irish-born, while George W. Bush has a rather distant Irish ancestry. Ronald Reagan's father was of Irish ancestry,[202] while his mother also had some Irish ancestors. John F. Kennedy had Irish lineage on both sides. Within this group, only Kennedy was raised as a practicing Roman Catholic. Barack Obama's Irish heritage originates from his Kansas-born mother, Ann Dunham, whose ancestry is Irish and English.[203]

text: Vice Presidents of Irish descent[edit]

text: Other presidents of Irish descent[edit]

text: Irish-American Justices of the Supreme Court[edit]

text:
William Paterson: born in County Antrim, Ireland.
Joseph McKenna
Edward D. White
Pierce Butler
Frank Murphy
James Francis Byrnes
William J. Brennan
Anthony Kennedy
William Howard Taft

text: Contributions to American culture[edit]

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: The annual celebration of Saint Patrick's Day is a widely recognized symbol of the Irish presence in America. The largest celebration of the holiday takes place in New York, where the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade draws an average of two million people. The second-largest celebration is held in Boston. The South Boston Parade is one the nation's oldest, dating back to 1737. Savannah, Georgia, also holds one of the largest parades in the United States.

text: Since the arrival of nearly two million Irish immigrants in the 1840s, the urban Irish police officer and firefighter have become virtual icons of American popular culture. In many large cities, the police and fire departments have been dominated by the Irish for over 100 years, even after the ethnic Irish residential populations in those cities dwindled to small minorities. Many police and fire departments maintain large and active "Emerald Societies", bagpipe marching groups, or other similar units demonstrating their members' pride in their Irish heritage.

text: While these archetypal images are especially well known, Irish Americans have contributed to U.S. culture in a wide variety of fields: the fine and performing arts, film, literature, politics, sports, and religion. The Irish-American contribution to popular entertainment is reflected in the careers of figures such as James Cagney, Bing Crosby, Walt Disney, John Ford, Judy Garland,[229] Gene Kelly, Grace Kelly, Tyrone Power, Chuck Conners, Ada Rehan, Jena Malone, and Spencer Tracy. Irish-born actress Maureen O'Hara,[230] who became an American citizen, defined for U.S. audiences the archetypal, feisty Irish "colleen" in popular films such as The Quiet Man and The Long Gray Line. More recently, the Irish-born Pierce Brosnan gained screen celebrity as James Bond. During the early years of television, popular figures with Irish roots included Gracie Allen, Art Carney, Joe Flynn, Jackie Gleason, Luke Gordon and Ed Sullivan.

text: Since the late days of the film industry, celluloid representations of Irish Americans have been plentiful. Famous films with Irish-American themes include social dramas such as Little Nellie Kelly and The Cardinal, labor epics like On the Waterfront, and gangster movies such as Angels with Dirty Faces, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, and The Departed. Irish-American characters have been featured in popular television series such as Ryan's Hope, Rescue Me and Blue Bloods.

text: Prominent Irish-American literary figures include Pulitzer and Nobel Prize–winning playwright Eugene O'Neill, Jazz Age novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald, author and poet Edgar Allan Poe,[231] social realist James T. Farrell, and Southern Gothic writer Flannery O'Connor. The 19th-century novelist Henry James was also of partly Irish descent. While Irish Americans have been underrepresented in the plastic arts, two well-known American painters claim Irish roots. 20th-century painter Georgia O'Keeffe was born to an Irish-American father, and 19th-century trompe-l'œil painter William Harnett emigrated from Ireland to the United States.

text: The Irish-American contribution to politics spans the entire ideological spectrum. Two prominent American socialists, Mary Harris "Mother" Jones and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, were Irish Americans. In the 1960s, Irish-American writer Michael Harrington became an influential advocate of social welfare programs. Harrington's views profoundly influenced President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Robert F. Kennedy. Meanwhile, Irish-American political writer William F. Buckley emerged as a major intellectual force in American conservative politics in the latter half of the 20th century. Buckley's magazine, National Review, proved an effective advocate of successful Republican candidates such as Ronald Reagan.

text: Notorious Irish Americans include the legendary New Mexico outlaw Billy the Kid.[232][233] Many historians believe he was born in New York City to Famine-era immigrants from Ireland.[232][233] Mary Mallon, also known as Typhoid Mary, was an Irish immigrant, as was madam Josephine Airey, who also went by the name of "Chicago Joe" Hensley. New Orleans socialite and murderer Delphine LaLaurie, whose maiden name was Macarty, was of partial paternal Irish ancestry. Irish-American mobsters include, amongst others, George "Bugs" Moran, Dean O'Banion, Jack "Legs" Diamond, Buddy McLean, Howie Winter and Whitey Bulger. Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin of John F. Kennedy, had an Irish-born great-grandmother by the name of Mary Tonry.[234] Colorful Irish Americans also include Margaret Tobin of RMS Titanic fame, scandalous model Evelyn Nesbit, dancer Isadora Duncan, San Francisco madam Tessie Wall, and Nellie Cashman, nurse and gold prospector in the American West.

text: The wide popularity of Celtic music has fostered the rise of Irish-American bands that draw heavily on traditional Irish themes and music. Such groups include New York City's Black 47, founded in the late 1980s, blending punk rock, rock and roll, Irish music, rap/hip-hop, reggae, and soul; and the Dropkick Murphys, a Celtic punk band formed in Quincy, Massachusetts, nearly a decade later. The Decemberists, a band featuring Irish-American singer Colin Meloy, released "Shankill Butchers", a song that deals with the Ulster Loyalist gang of the same name. The song appears on their album The Crane Wife. Flogging Molly, led by Dublin-born Dave King, are relative newcomers building upon this new tradition.

text: Sports[edit]

text: Starting with the sons of the famine generation, the Irish dominated baseball and boxing, and played a major role in other sports. John L. Sullivan (1858–1918), The heavyweight boxing champion, was the first of the modern sports superstars, winning scores of contests – perhaps as many as 200—with a purse that reached the fabulous sum of one million dollars.[235][236]

text: Famous in their day were NFL quarterbacks and Super Bowl champions John Elway and Tom Brady, NBA forward Rick Barry,[237] tennis greats Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe, baseball pitcher Nolan Ryan, baseball shortstop Derek Jeter, basketball point guard Jason Kidd, boxing legend Jack Dempsey, world champion pro surfer Kelly Slater, national champion skier Ryan Max Riley, and legendary golfer Ben Hogan.

text: Baseball[edit]

text: The Irish dominated professional baseball in the late 19th century, comprising a third or more of the players and many of the top stars and managers. The professional teams played in northeastern cities with large Irish populations that provided a fan base, as well as training for ambitious youth.[238] Casway argues that:

text: Irish stars included Charles Comiskey, Connie Mack, Michael "King" Kelly, Roger Connor, Eddie Collins, Roger Bresnahan, Ed Walsh and New York Giants manager John McGraw. The large 1945 class of inductees enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown included nine Irish Americans.

text: The Philadelphia Phillies always play at home during spring training on St. Patrick's Day. The Phillies hold the distinction of being the first baseball team to wear green uniforms on St. Patricks Day. The tradition was started by Phillies pitcher Tug McGraw, who dyed his uniform green the night before March 17, 1981.[240]

text: Gaelic sports[edit]

text: The Irish brought their native games of handball, hurling and Gaelic football to America. Along with camogie, these sports are part of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The North American GAA organization is still very strong.

text: Entertainment[edit]

text: Irish Americans have been prominent in comedy. Notable comedians of Irish descent include Jackie Gleason, George Carlin, Bill Burr, Bill Murray, Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, Chris Farley, Stephen Colbert, Conan O'Brien, Denis Leary (holds dual American and Irish citizenship),[241] Colin Quinn, Charles Nelson Reilly, Bill Maher, Molly Shannon, John Mulaney, Kathleen Madigan, Jimmy Fallon, Des Bishop, and Jim Gaffigan, among others. Musicians of Irish descent include Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, Kurt Cobain, Bing Crosby, Tori Kelly, Alicia Keys, Beyonce, Tim McGraw, Mandy Moore, Hilary Duff, Fergie, Judy Garland, Katy Perry, Tom Petty, Pink, Elvis Presley, Britney Spears, Bruce Springsteen, Gwen Stefani, Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, Prodigy, Post Malone and others.

text: Fictional Irish Americans: In the Comic Strips:

text:
Maggie and Jiggs of Bringing Up Father
Police Chief Pat Patton of Dick Tracy
Beetle Bailey and his sister Lous {Bailey} Flagston of Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois[242]

text: Irish-American communities[edit]

text: According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city of Butte, Montana has the highest percentage of Irish Americans per capita of any city in the United States, with around one-quarter of the population reporting Irish ancestry.[243][244] Butte's Irish Catholic population originates from the waves of Irish immigrants who arrived in the city in the late-nineteenth century to work in the industrial mines. By population, however, Boston and Philadelphia have the two largest Irish American populations in the country. There are Irish neighborhoods scattered all throughout Boston, most notably South Boston. Many of Philadelphia's Irish neighborhoods are located in the Northeast Philadelphia section of the city, particularly in the Fishtown, Mayfair, and Kensington neighborhoods, as well as the South Philadelphia section, most notably the Pennsport ("Two Street" to the locals) neighborhood. There are large Irish populations in the Boston and Philadelphia metropolitan areas as well. The South Side of Chicago, Illinois also has a large Irish community, who refer to themselves as the Southside Irish.


document_title: Orange Is the New Black (season 6)

question_text: who gets released on orange is the new black

root

text: Orange Is the New Black (season 6)

text: Episodes[edit]

text:
No.overallNo. inseasonTitleDirected byWritten byFeatured character(s)Original release date661"Who Knows Better Than I"Michael TrimJenji KohanSuzanne & CindyJuly 27, 2018 (2018-07-27)
Suzanne has hallucinations while getting back on her medications. She is the first interviewed by a federal investigation into the riot and murders. Those found in the bunker are held in isolation at Litchfield's maximum security prison and face various abuses from the guards and inmates. Frieda attempts suicide, while Red confronts Badison to protect her family. Piper desperately tries to find Alex, and fears the worst when she learns a prisoner died. Gloria attacks Maria and they are handcuffed and forced to kiss by the guards. Taystee is visited by CO Tamika Ward, who had been her friend on the outside. Suzanne is released from questioning and brought to the prison which she realizes is not her "home" anymore.

Flashback: Suzanne and Black Cindy hide in the pool and witness CERT officers stage Piscatella's body to look like the inmates killed him with his own gun. On the bus to max, Red provides a story that Piscatella brought them to the pool to torture them. Suzanne snaps at the false version of events, but Cindy insists they lie so the guards won't kill them.
672"Sh*tstorm Coming"Mark A. BurleyBrian ChamberlayneCindyJuly 27, 2018 (2018-07-27)
Detectives are pressured to file charges on two murderers and three riot leaders within a week. Daya makes a plea agreement for Humphrey's murder, while Taystee is considered a leader as the public face of the riot. Black Cindy tries to warn Taystee but when she learns their fingerprints are on Piscatella's gun, she turns on Taystee to save herself. Gloria names Maria as the riot's mastermind and pressures Blanca to do the same; despite Maria's attempts to frame Gloria, MCC corroborates Gloria's story and she gets immunity for her testimony. Piper starts to bond with cellmate Beth but learns she killed her children. Caputo becomes depressed on suspension but reconnects with Figueroa, who has been made interim warden. Dixon invites himself on a road trip with Coates, not realizing Pennsatucky is in his trunk.

Flashback: Black Cindy has a teenage pregnancy by a jock with a girlfriend, and abandoned the infant to her mother's care.
683"Look Out for Number One"Erin FeeleyHilary Weisman GrahamFrieda, Carol & BarbJuly 27, 2018 (2018-07-27)
Linda is identified in a Cleveland prison, threatens to sue MCC for $10 million, and is made a senior VP at triple her previous salary. Red is shocked to learn Piscatella is dead during her interview; failing to inform the others through charades, Badison sends messages but Piper misinterprets it to mean Alex was killed in the pool. Nicky calls her stepmother/attorney and is threatened with 70 years of drug theft and distribution charges to pressure her testimony against Red. Frieda retrieves Black Cindy's note and fakes senility in her interview; she is transferred to B Block with the old-timers and crazies, including Suzanne. In general population, inmates learn the power structure with D Block run by Barbara and C Block by Carol, two antagonistic sisters at the head of a decades-old feud. Daya continues to receive beatings as a guard killer, and Daddy gives her oxycodone for the pain. On work detail, Black Cindy, Flaca, Daya and Morello steal toiletries, but the products are sabotaged as an initiation.

Flashback: In the 1980s, Frieda is in Litchfield Max and antagonizes a rivalry between drug-dealing sisters Carol and Barbara. While they attack each other on the kickball field, Frieda turns over Carol's stash to the warden for a transfer to minimum security.
694"I'm the Talking Ass"Phil AbrahamTami SagherNickyJuly 27, 2018 (2018-07-27)
Blake, Luschek and McCullough return to duty, the latter suffering PTSD. They are invited into the fantasy inmate league, gambling on inmate deaths and injuries. Alex returns and is reunited with Piper. Coates, Dixon and Pennsatucky have fun at an amusement park. To get her kids out of foster care, Aleida begins selling dietary shakes, including to head CO Hopper. Taystee learns she is being charged for Piscatella's murder and speaks with Caputo. Nicky tells Red about the drug charges and gets Red's permission to testify against her, realizing that she is loved by someone.

Flashback: Nicky's selfish divorced parents fight through revisions to her bat mitzvah speech. She breaks from her good behavior and, inspired by her Torah portion of Balaam's Talking Ass, mocks God for the Holocaust and her parents for neglecting her while comparing herself to the donkey who suddenly found its voice after enduring abuse. Afterward, her parents berate her while arguing with each other over who has to take her home.
705"Mischief Mischief"Andrew McCarthyAnthony NatolinoneJuly 27, 2018 (2018-07-27)
Luschek hosts the fantasy inmate draft with a party that sees him replace Alvarez as league commissioner. Copeland instigates a fight between Piper and Maria, two of her picks, for Chapman's tooth chip and superglue. Alex helps Badison with a prank to make peace. Daddy instructs her D Block gang to release rats in the cheese-packaging facility in the hopes C Block will be fired and D Block will get those work assignments. McCullough, who has been burning her legs with cigarettes, strikes Maria for talking back. Blanca reveals that Maria set the hostages free, thwarting Maria's attempt to join a gang. Someone later tries to drown Maria in a toilet. Linda meets with Figueroa who realizes from her ordeal that they're short a prisoner and calls a manhunt. Coates convinces Pennsatucky to hike across the Canadian border but she sees his anger resurface under pressure and turns herself in. Linda threatens civil action against Caputo unless he takes a dead-end job at a Missouri prison. Afraid that someone in B Block has been sent to kill her, Frieda agrees for lonely Suzanne to be her cellmate.
716"State of the Uterus"Constantine MakrisMerritt TierceDaddyJuly 27, 2018 (2018-07-27)
Daddy's rat prank results in MCC losing the lucrative cheese-packaging contract and unintentionally closes the route CO Hellman was bringing drugs into the prison. Badison seeks revenge for the job loss by having her people defecate in D Block's laundry. Daddy further incites her strung-out followers by blaming C Block for cutting off their supply. Daya consoles Daddy. Luschek is made head of recreation and interviews radio show acts. Flaca looks for a co-host and finds an unexpected rapport with Black Cindy. Gloria fears she is entering menopause and follows doctor's advice to exercise. Blanca learns that she has limited fertility. Red signs a plea agreement to inciting the riot to avoid other charges. In court, Taystee pleads guilty to inciting the riot but not guilty to murder; the ACLU offer representation and Black Lives Matter pressure MCC to take her out of solitary. Piper proposes a prison wedding to Alex. Aleida visits her kids in foster care, and discovers that none of them want anything to do with her.

Flashback: Daddy ran a house of college escorts to successful Latino businessmen. Although a woman is killed at a party, she covers it up and soon provides another escort for the client.
727"Changing Winds"Andrew McCarthyHeather Jeng BladtBadisonJuly 27, 2018 (2018-07-27)
Carol holds Badison accountable for Daddy's prank that cost them their cushy jobs, and cuts her out. Badison consults with Alex and convinces Luschek to smuggle valuable smartphones. Though Alex doesn't want anything to do with it, she ends up with the phone when Badison is stabbed in the yard by Daddy's girls. Strung-out, Daya steals Barbara's personal stash; Daddy is incensed and they have angry sex. Taystee receives fan mail, which the guards redact. Suzanne comes out to the yard to see Taystee and Black Cindy, but doesn't know how to talk with them while keeping the secret. Suspected as a suicide, Maria is released from psyche with the suggestion of finding religion. Pennsatucky blackmails Linda for a bunk in B Block. Preparing to leave town, Caputo goes on his first real date with Figueroa, and tries to give her closure for a past event. Considering writing a memoir, Piper examines the library and finds photos from before the feud, and determines to heal divisions by bringing back kickball.

Flashback: Bullied Badison acts out, is expelled from school, and sent to a boot camp for troubled teens where she tries to find acceptance by severely bullying the weakest girl.
738"Gordons"Sian HederVera SantamariaTaystee & TamikaJuly 27, 2018 (2018-07-27)
Alex hides the cellphone through a lockdown and search, and finds money added to her commissary despite wanting to stay out of the gang. Gloria advises Latin music and helps Luschek with his dance-aerobics class. Piper extorts Luschek to return kickball. Daddy asks Daya to buy drugs through her friends in C-block; she gets them from Blanca, in exchange for retrieving Diablo's sperm donation from the visitation washroom. The swap is noticed and Daya is beaten by C Block inmates but manages to save four pills for Daddy. Blanca and Nicky are surrounded by the same gang during the insemination procedure. Red schemes against Frieda, gaining an alliance with Carol who arranges a hair styling. Aleida is stopped from selling outside the prison by Hopper who takes her for a date. In a media interview, Taystee describes guard abuses and has her mail cut off by Tamika.

Flashback: Tamika and Taystee work a night shift at fast food restaurant Storky's, smoking a joint and getting robbed. When Taystee lies and says she cannot open the register that late without activating the security cameras, the robber steals her new Air Jordan 8 shoes instead. Tamika is impressed with Taystee's quick thinking, and Taystee reveals that there are no security cameras but she did not want to call the police or else she and Tamika would be arrested for being high and accused of stealing the money. She also reveals that her Jordans were actually "Gordons"—counterfeit.
749"Break the String"Nick SandowKirsa ReinnoneJuly 27, 2018 (2018-07-27)
Zirconia becomes jealous when Gloria causes Luschek to get an erection in dance-aerobics class; she tells Badison that Gloria is turning Luschek against her, and Badison threatens Gloria against returning to class. Daddy gives addict Barbara "bath salts", sidelining her in the infirmary. Beaten Nicky talks Barbara down from her hallucinations; they bond over addiction experiences and Barbara agrees to get clean. Red tries to reconnect with her real family, and learns her husband is having an affair; full of vengeance, she quickly climbs into Carol's inner circle. Piper gains Carol's permission for kickball but gets no takers until Maria signs the church ladies; Carol then demands her people form an opposing team. Caputo is deposed ahead of Taystee's trial, admitting that she did break his nose. Black Cindy suffers back pains from guilt, she starts to confess but instead tells Taystee she has a teenaged daughter. Caputo and Figueroa continue to run-out their relationship. However, he quits MCC when Linda tells him to hold the company line. Aleida refuses to smuggle drugs for Daya until she is evicted and forced into domesticity with Hopper.
7510"Chocolate Chip Nookie"Ludovic LitteeCarolina PaizCarol & BarbJuly 27, 2018 (2018-07-27)
Aleida has been using Hopper as an unwitting mule to bring drugs into the prison in the false bottom of a food-supplement container, but as the weight is increased he discovers the tampering. The inmate league has seen little action since segregating the blocks, so Luschek agrees to an interblock kickball championship in the field. In warmups, Piper is confirmed as C Block captain over Badison. Gloria continues to be harassed, and is transferred to D block with Daya and Maria. Barbara achieves 30 days of sobriety, and with new clarity plots to kill Carol, who she blames for spiking her drugs. Black Cindy makes an anonymous call to Caputo, provoking him into questioning a suspicious CERT member; Figueroa advises him to instead work the PR campaign. Frieda apologizes for misleading Suzanne and explains the feud.

Flashback: In 1982 West Virginia, high schoolers Barb and Carol kill their younger sister whose gymnastics training was causing the family to move. In Litchfield, an argument over an anecdote led to their separation and the block feud.
7611"Well This Took a Dark Turn"Laura PreponAnthony NatolinoneJuly 27, 2018 (2018-07-27)
Hopper confronts Aleida with the drugs but nearing 10 years at Litchfield, he decides to smuggle full containers for three months. Badison vomits when Piper has her team run sprints. Badison tries to extend Piper's sentence by planting drugs on her and to cancel kickball by injuring a teammate. Carol paid to have Frieda killed, stunning Red. Suzanne and Pennsatucky find Gladys had a large commissary deposit, and when Gladys uses one of Carol's idioms, Frieda cuts her own arm to frame Gladys. Barbara sends her gang to kill Carol and her lieutenants at the salon; Nicky joins as a lookout to warn Red, but her message is intercepted and a guard takes Carol into protective custody. Nicky talks her way out of suspicion, having testified against Red. Caputo asks Sophia to join a lawsuit with other inmates wronged by MCC, but Linda offers settlements and early release to everyone he'd visited; Sophia agrees and signs a non-disclosure agreement. Maria is inspired by Blake to be a good person until Beth admits to attacking her. Black Cindy testifies against Taystee, told that changing her story now would make her an unreliable witness. Aiming for league points, Copeland locks Barbara in Carol's cell.
7712"Double Trouble"Clark JohnsonHilary Weisman GrahamnoneJuly 27, 2018 (2018-07-27)
Barbara and Carol agree to a truce, then each declare war to their blocks. Caputo tells Taystee that she has a chance if she can win over the jury. McCullough snaps after a kickball bursts. Alex asks Badison to leave Piper alone but instead Badison hires Hellman to frame Piper. To keep Badison in line, Alex agrees to work for Carol. Hellman gives a fraudulent incident report to Hopper, to whom Piper had promised to inform on drug activities. Deciding that Piper is an unnecessary risk to his own drug operation, Hopper destroys the report and puts Piper at the top of Linda's new inmate-ranking system so that she'll be released at the end of the week. Gloria helps with Flaca's radio show in order to warn Luschek about the impending block war, but Luschek is called away for Linda's marketing campaign as MCC is rebranded PolyCon Corrections. While writing him a note, Gloria discovers Luschek's fantasy inmate data and tries to expose it on the radio, which isn't broadcasting. Alvarez sends Gloria to solitary. Red has her first visitation with her grandchildren but ruins it to attack Frieda on her return from court.
7813"Be Free"Nick SandowBrian ChamberlayneCarol & BarbJuly 27, 2018 (2018-07-27)
Piper, Sophia and Blanca are told they'll be released the next day, the day of the kickball championship, of Taystee's verdict, and the day fantasy inmate concludes. Piper and Alex are "prison married" by Nicky. Aleida is shocked to see Daya high on heroin, but continues supplying her eldest to save her younger children. Taystee is found guilty; Caputo confronts a CERT member, who punches him; Figueroa sets aside business to tend his wounds. Luschek visits Gloria who challenges him to stop the fight. Carol and Barbara meet in a closet; the war is a diversion for them to infiltrate B Block and kill Frieda. Maria has a change of heart and McCullough lets the captains pick new teams, mixing the blocks. When Badison signals the attack, Suzanne kicks a high ball and the inmates are caught in the excitement of the play. With no fight causing a lockdown, Barbara and Carol's antagonism results in their deaths, bumping Copeland from last to first in fantasy inmate. Pregnant Lorna is brought to medical in distress. Piper and Sophia are united with family members, but Blanca is immediately taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, for which PolyCon is running a detention facility. Piper contemplates her freedom.

Flashback: The anecdote Carol and Barbara both claimed happened to them as waitresses (bringing a customer a newspaper after mishearing a request for a "glass of ice" as "classifieds") actually happened to a third waitress who told them the story.

text: Cast and characters[edit]

text: Main cast[edit]

text:
Taylor Schilling as Piper Chapman, inmate
Natasha Lyonne as Nicky Nichols, inmate
Uzo Aduba as Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren, inmate
Danielle Brooks as Tasha "Taystee" Jefferson, inmate
Jackie Cruz as Marisol "Flaca" Gonzales, inmate
Laura Gómez as Blanca Flores, inmate
Selenis Leyva as Gloria Mendoza, inmate
Taryn Manning as Tiffany "Pennsatucky" Doggett, inmate
Adrienne C. Moore as Cindy "Black Cindy" Hayes, inmate
Matt Peters as Joel Luschek, correctional officer
Jessica Pimentel as Maria Ruiz, inmate
Dascha Polanco as Dayanara "Daya" Diaz, inmate
Elizabeth Rodriguez as Aleida Diaz, former inmate
Nick Sandow as Joe Caputo, former warden
Dale Soules as Frieda Berlin, inmate
Yael Stone as Lorna Morello, inmate
Kate Mulgrew as Galina "Red" Reznikov, inmate
Laura Prepon as Alex Vause, inmate

tag: ul

text: Special guest stars[edit]

text:
Michael J. Harney as Sam Healy
Lea DeLaria as Carrie "Big Boo" Black
Alex Trebek as himself

text: Recurring cast[edit]

text: Inmates[edit]

text:
Amanda Fuller as Madison "Badison" Murphy
Finnerty Steeves as Beth Hoefler
Alice Kremelberg as Nicole Eckelcamp
Vicci Martinez as Dominga "Daddy" Duarte
Laverne Cox as Sophia Burset
Ashley Bacon as Young Frieda Berlin
Henny Russell as Carol Denning
Ashley Jordyn as Young Carol Denning
Mackenzie Phillips as Barbara "Barb" Denning
Lauren Kelston as Young Barbara "Barb" Denning
Sipiwe Moyo as Adeola
Daniella De Jesus as Irene "Zirconia" Cabrera
Shannon Esper as Alana Dwight
Lori Petty as Lolly Whitehill
Christina Toth as Annalisa Damiva
Kana Hatakeyama as Charlene Teng
Reema Sampat as Shruti Chambal
Jo Lampert as Marie Brock
Shirley Roeca as Vazquez
Rebecca Knox as Tina Swope

text: Staff[edit]

text:
Alysia Reiner as Natalie Figueroa, interim warden
Emily Tarver as CO Artesian McCullough
Susan Heyward as CO Tamika Ward
Nicholas Webber as CO Alvarez
Shawna Hamic as CO Copeland a.k.a. Ginger
Greg Vrotsos as CO Hellman
Mike Houston as CO Lee Dixon
James McMenamin as Charlie Coates
Josh Segarra as CO Stefanovic
Beth Dover as Linda Ferguson
Nick Dillenburg as CO Blake
Branden Wellington as CO Jarod Young
Hunter Emery as CO Rick Hopper

text: Others[edit]

text:
Michael J. Burg as Agent Mark Bellamy
Ali Ahn as Agent Nguyen
Alexander Wrigth as Vasily Reznikov
Miguel Izaguirre as Diablo
Karina Ortiz as Margarita

text: Production[edit]

text: In February 2016, Netflix gave the series a three-season renewal, which included its sixth season.[5] For the sixth season, Laura Gómez, Matt Peters and Dale Soules were promoted to series regulars.

tag: p

text: Reception[edit]

text: The sixth season received positive reviews from critics, with most critics noting its improvement over the previous season. On Metacritic, it has a score of 69 out of 100 based on 14 reviews.[6] On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an 84% rating with an average score of 7.3 out of 10 based on 32 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "Brutality and humor continue to mesh effectively in a season of Orange Is the New Black that stands as a marked improvement from its predecessor, even if some arcs are more inspired than others."[7]