Irish and proud of it – the women who made their mark in America
Although Ireland is one of the smallest countries in the world, the Irish have made a major contribution to the religious, educational, sporting, cultural and economic life of many countries. This is particularly true of America, where the U. S. Census Bureau reports that almost forty million people claim Irish roots.
On the day that Ellis Island opened on 1st January, 1892, the very first person processed through the famous American immigration centre was an Irish girl named Annie Moore. It seems the Irish were the only nineteenth or twentieth century immigrant group in which women outnumbered the men. Even when the crisis of the potato famine had eased, Irish women continued to leave their native land in increasing numbers in the hope of finding a better life in America.
In the land of their adoption, these women worked hard, and they sent home money which paid the passage of their sisters, nieces and cousins. They learned the value of education, and the second generation of Irish women entered the professions in greater numbers than any other immigrant group. In 1910 Irish American women represented the majority of public elementary school teachers in Providence, Boston, New York, Chicago and San Francisco. By 1939, it was estimated that seventy per cent of Chicago schoolteachers were Irish American women.
These women have made, and continue to make, a major contribution to the history of the United States.
The name Margaret Mitchell will be familiar to many readers. She was an American novelist and journalist, who wrote just one novel which was published during her lifetime. The novel was called Gone with the Wind, for which she won the National Book Award for Most Distinguished Novel of 1936. Her book was made into a hit movie which won a basketful of Academy Awards. Margaret’s maternal great-grandfather, Philip Fitzgerald, emigrated from Ireland and settled near Jonesboro, Georgia, and her grandfather, John Stephens, also emigrated from Ireland and became a Captain in the Confederate States Army.
Georgia Totto O’Keeffe, who was born on 15th November, 1887, was an artist. She was best known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes. She has been called the ‘mother of American modernism. In 2014, her painting
Jimson Weed, sold for $44,405,000, more than three times the previous world auction record for any female artist. Following her death, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum was established in Santa Fe.
Louise Bogan, who was born on 11th August, 1897, was a poet. She was appointed the fourth Poet Laureate to the Library of Congress in 1945, and was the first woman to hold this title. Louise also wrote fiction and criticism and became the regular poetry reviewer for The New Yorker. In the Dictionary of Literary Biography, she is described as ‘one of the finest lyric poets America has produced.’
Nora Roberts, who was born Eleanor Marie Robertson, on 10th October, 1950, has written more than 225 romance novels, and was the first author to be inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame. Both her parents have Irish ancestors and she has described herself as ‘an Irishwoman through and through.’
Maureen Daly, who was born on 15th March, 1921, in Castlecaulfield, Co. Tyrone, was a writer. Her mother, Margaret Kelly Daly, was reputed to be a descendant of Mary, Queen of Scots. Her father, Joseph Desmond Daly, was a bicycle shop owner. Maureen was best known for her novel Seventeenth Summer, which she wrote while still in her teens. It was regarded by some as the first young adult novel. At the age of sixteen, Maureen also wrote an award-winning short story entitled Sixteen, which appeared in many anthologies.
Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins Clark Conheeney, known professionally as Mary Higgins Clark, was born on 24th December, 1927, and became a writer of suspense novels. Each of her fifty-one books has been a bestseller in the United States and in various European countries. She was the only daughter of Irish immigrant Luke Higgins and his American-born wife, Nora, also of Irish descent.
Elizabeth Cochran Seaman, who was born on 5th May, 1864, was better known by her penname Nellie Bly. She was a journalist who was widely known for her record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days in imitation of the journey made by Jules Verne’s fictional character, Phineas Fogg. She was also well known for her undercover work from within a mental institution which she carried out for a report on the terrible conditions endured by mental patients. A pioneer in the field of investigative journalism, Nellie Bly was also a writer, inventor and industrialist.
Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis, who was born on 28th July, 1929, was First Lady of the United States during the presidency of John F. Kennedy and was widely regarded as an international icon of style and culture.
Eileen Marie Collins, who was born on 19th November, 1956, is a retired NASA astronaut and a retired United States Air Force colonel. A former military instructor and test pilot, Eileen was the first female pilot and first female commander of a Space Shuttle. She was awarded several medals for her work. Having logged thirty-eight days, eight hours and twenty minutes in outer space, she retired on 1st May, 2006, to pursue private interests, including service as a board member of USAA. Eileen was born in Elmira, New York, and her parents, James E. and Rose Marie Collins, were immigrants from Co. Cork.
Sharon Christa McAuliffe was born on 2nd September, 1948, in Boston Massachusetts. She was the oldest of five children of accountant Edward Christopher Corrigan, who was of Irish descent, and Grace Mary Corrigan. Sharon was an American teacher and astronaut from Concord, New Hampshire, and was one of the seven crew members killed in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
Victoria Leigh Soto, who was born on 4th November, 1985, was an American teacher who was murdered in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. When the gunman entered the school, Victoria hid her students and did everything she could to protect them. She has since been hailed as a hero, and she was a posthumous recipient of the Presidential Citizens’ Medal. Victoria was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and her mother, Donna Fagan-Soto, was of Irish descent.
Kay Ryan, who was born on 21st September, 1945, is an American poet and educator, who has published many volumes of poetry. From 2008 to 2010, she was the sixteenth United States Poet Laureate. In 2011, she was named a MacArthur Fellow and she also won a Pulitzer Prize.
Margaret Brown, nee Tobin, who was born on 18th July, 1867, became known as ‘ The Unsinkable Molly Brown’. She was an American socialite and philanthropist, and is probably best remembered for encouraging the crew of one of the Titanic’s lifeboats to return to the scene of the sinking liner and search for survivors. During her lifetime, her friends called her ‘Maggie’, but obituaries referred to her as the ‘Unsinkable Mrs. Brown’. In 1960 a Broadway musical was based on her life and in 1964 there was a film adaptation, and both the musical and film were entitled The Unsinkable Molly Brown. Margaret Tobin was born in a small cottage near the Mississippi River in Hannibal, Missouri. Her parents were Irish Catholic immigrants, John Tobin and Johanna (Collins) Tobin.
Leonora Barry was born in Cork in 1849, and her family left for America in 1852 to escape the devastating effects of the Great Famine. They settled in New York and Leonora became a teacher at the age of fifteen. She spent several years as a teacher, but when she married, she had to resign her post. Following the death of her husband in 1881, she found work in a knitting factory to support her family. The oppressive conditions under which the knitters were forced to work, prompted her to become involved in the Knights of Labour. By 1885, she was overseeing fifty-two different groups and over 9,000 members. In 1886, she was sent as a delegate to the national convention where it was decided that a women’s department should be created with Leonora as its head. As a direct result of her efforts, Pennsylvania passed its first Factory Inspection Act.
She resigned from her post in 1890, but remained active in the suffrage movement, as well as the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America. Leonora died in 1930 after a battle with cancer of the mouth.
Kate Kennedy, who was born in 1827, grew up on the family farm in Gaskinstown, Co. Meath. Like many other Irish families, the Kennedys were hard hit by the Great Famine, and by 1849 they decided to emigrate to America. In San Francisco, Kate found work as a teacher. An excellent teacher
and administrator, she was soon promoted to principal of the North Cosmopolitan Grammar School. However, instead of receiving the salary of a grammar school principal, she was paid at the lower rate of a primary school principal. The explanation offered by the school officials was that, as a woman, she could hardly expect to receive a salary equal to her male counterparts.
Her treatment prompted her to launch a campaign for equal pay for equal work, and in 1874, she won her case. For the rest of her life, she became a champion of women’s suffrage. Then when she was aged sixty, she took a two-month leave of absence for health reasons. The Board of Education transferred her to a smaller school and reduced her salary, and when she protested, she was fired. Kate immediately brought a case against the city of San Francisco for reinstatement at the North Cosmopolitan Grammar School with back pay. It took three years before the state supreme court ruled in her favour and she was reinstated with $5.700 in back pay. Sadly, Kate died on 19th March, 1890, only weeks following her court victory.
These are just a few of the many Irish women who helped to shape the communities in which they lived and worked. They left an indelible mark on many aspects of American life, and they deserve to be remembered and honoured.
This article first appeared in Ireland’s Own magazine