page_title: History of Irish Americans in Boston
section_title: Discrimination and stereotyping
hierarchical_section_title: History of Irish Americans in Boston / Discrimination and stereotyping
caption_attribution_description: English: Advertisement for a nanny that appeared in the Boston Transcript in 1868, stating "Positively no Irish need apply." Reprinted in "A Journey Through Boston Irish History" by Dennis P. Ryan, Arcadia Publishing, 1999.
context_page_description: People of Irish descent form the largest single ethnic group in Boston, Massachusetts. Once a Puritan stronghold, Boston changed dramatically in the 19th century with the arrival of European immigrants. The Irish dominated the first wave of newcomers during this period, especially following the Great Irish Famine. Their arrival transformed Boston from an Anglo-Saxon, Protestant city into one that has become progressively more diverse. The Yankees hired Irish as workers and servants, but there was little social interaction. In the 1840s and 50s, the anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant Know Nothing movement targeted Irish Catholics in Boston. In the 1860s, many Irish immigrants fought for the Union in the American Civil War, and that display of patriotism helped to dispel much of the prejudice against them.
  With an expanding population, group loyalty, and block-by-block political organization, the Irish took political control of the city, leaving the Yankees in charge of finance, business, and higher education.
context_section_description: Irish immigrants to the U.S. in the 19th century faced a combination of anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic, and specifically anti-Irish bigotry which were closely intertwined. This was especially true in Puritan-founded Boston, with its strongly Anglo-Saxon population. Generations of Bostonians celebrated Pope's Night on November 5 each year, holding anti-Catholic parades and burning the pope in effigy.
  In cases of simple anti-Catholic bigotry, other ethnic groups were also affected: for example, the nuns who lived in the Ursuline convent in Charlestown, which was burned down by anti-Catholic rioters in 1834, were French Canadians. As Cardinal Cushing wrote, however, not all the hostility hurled at Irish immigrants was hurled at them as Catholics; "some of it was a new chapter in the old quarrels between England and Ireland." This makes it difficult in some cases to say which form of bias was most in evidence. In 1806, for example, two Irish Catholics from Boston, Dominic Daley and James Halligan, were convicted of murder on flimsy evidence and hanged; and while it is generally agreed that the jury was biased against them, it is impossible to say whether French Catholics in their position, or any outsiders for that matter, would have suffered the same fate. Governor Michael Dukakis officially exonerated both men on St. Patrick's Day, 1984.
  In 1837, the same year as the Broad Street Riot, Irish Bostonians formed their own volunteer militia company, one of ten that made up the infantry regiment of the Boston Brigade. The Montgomery Guards were named for Richard Montgomery, an Irish-born general who served in the Continental Army; their emblem depicted an American eagle alighting on an Irish harp. Their efforts had the blessing of city officials and the governor, and the local press applauded their public spirit. After the annual Fall Muster on Boston Common, however, when the green-clad Montgomery Guards marched across town to their armory at Dock Square, hostile crowds pelted them with bottles and rocks, and thousands of rioters surrounded the armory, threatening to break down the doors. The company was forced to disband for public safety reasons.
  The Irish who arrived during the famine years were among the poorest and least welcome immigrants in Boston. In 1850, a group of African Americans living on Elm Street signed a petition to keep the Irish out of their neighborhood. Advertisements for domestic servants sometimes stipulated "a Protestant woman", implying that an Irish Protestant would be acceptable; others specifically warned, "no Irish need apply".
  After the Civil War, Irish Bostonians found that the prejudice against them had lessened somewhat. The Massachusetts legislature repealed the law requiring a two-year waiting period before new citizens could vote, and passed a bill effectively declaring that Catholic students could no longer be compelled to read from the King James Bible. Soon afterwards, city officials announced that patients at Boston City Hospital could be attended by the clergy of their choice. By that time, however, the damage had been done; according to historian Thomas H. O'Connor, the bitter hostilities of the 19th century had created divisions that lasted well into the 20th.
caption: This advertisement for a nanny, warning that "positively no Irish need apply", appeared in the Boston Transcript in 1868.
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