DeDanaan

Filed by Aine MacDermot

1900 THE IRISH IN AMERICA

The Irish did well in the United States and in the individual states for a number of reasons. Among them would be the fact that: they spoke the language; were familiar with the system; and learned to use it to political advantage. They were the first effective minority in the United States, and as an organized minority, early in the history of the country and the states, used the political process and carved for themselves opportunities.

You have seen in this chronology just what they accomplished. By the beginning of the twentieth century, opportunity was open to them in more fields and they took advantage of it. In the heavy urban centers of the East Coast, however, the Irish were still considered a minority. In some of these places, opportunity was still closed to them as shown in an acronym understood by the Irish who lived through the period, NINA (No Irish Need Apply, this acronym was usually found after a job listing in the paper or in a store or business window). By the time the boys came home from “the War to end all wars” in 1918, the signs were mostly gone.

The minority status designation for the Irish was over. They were able to move up a notch and leave the minority tag to newer immigrant groups. Soon the Irish were excelling in all fields. So many Irish and Celts distinguished themselves in so many fields there is only room to list some of the names, many of which you will recognize. Those you don’t recognize were accomplished people in their field and their story can be found in your local library with just a little research. Some things can’t be listed like Roy C. Sullivan, a park ranger who has survived being struck seven times by lightning, or that Cathy Rigby, the first U.S. woman gymnast to win a medal in world competition, is now Mrs. Tom McCoy; or that Mary Lou Retton, the darling of the 1984 Olympics, is now Mrs. Shannon Kelley. Those stories and more will have to wait for another time and place. One thing the lists do tell us, as in the building of this country, the Irish are still very much among the pioneers of America and America’s future. Our everyday life is touched by accomplishments of Irishmen.

It was an Irishman that first powered an automobile with gasoline (Duryea brothers), and an Irishman who brought the automobile within reach of all Americans (Ford). It was an Irishman who invented the parking meter we pay to park the car (Magee). Both ends of the pencil came to us from Irishmen (Dixon and Train). The shape of the doughnut (Gregory)we eat and the stamps we mail (Train) were designed by Irishmen. The beverage can (McManus) from which we drink and refresh ourselves, or the aerosol can (Connelley) we spray, came to us from Irishmen. The heeled shoes we walk on (O’Sullivan), the swivel chair we sit in at the office (Jefferson), the use of shorthand (Gregg), the telephone (Bell) we use to talk and hear from others, the vacuum cleaner (McGaffey) we use to clean with, are all gifts of the Gaelic mind.

Today’s microcomputer chip (Cochrane and Boone) and photoelectric cell (Carey) technology were begun by Irishmen. Unfortunately these lists won’t tell you the story behind these inventions, nor will it tell you an Irishman (Cooley) made the first implantation of a mechanical heart into a human.

Did you know the first person launched into space was a woman, an Irish woman? Maggie McGrew, a missile engineering executive at Patrick Air Force Base died while working on the BOMARC missile program. At her request, she was cremated and her ashes sealed into the nose cone of a Bomarc missile. The missile with the nose cone containing her ashes was launched from Cape Canaveral into space in the spring of 1956, five years before Yuri Gagarin was launched into space.

Many of America’s heroes in the Twentieth century were Irishmen. Men like: Teddy Roosevelt, John L. Sullivan, Alvin York, Audie Murphy, Tom Dooley, Jack Kennedy, John Wayne, and Ronald Reagan all have an Irish heritage. Celtic women, too are much admired in America, the very first Miss America was an Irish woman, Margaret Gorman (1921). In 1987, Rita Whalen McCaffey was named National Mother of the Year, in 1991, Kelli McCarthy was Miss USA. Women like: Jackie Cochran, Georgia O’Keefe, Margaret Mitchell, Christa McAuliffe, and Sandra Day O’Connor, have all reached high acclaim. Most of these names are known to all Americans. The Irish and Americans can both be proud of their contributions.

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Reference : A Short History of the Celts; from Russia’s Steppes to America’s Door by Gerard Patrick Moran

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