ABSTRACT
Identity, both how an individual sees him or herself and how the larger society sees them, is an important aspect in how people fit into the social landscape of their society. Emigration from Ireland has been an important element in Irish society since the late seventeenth century. In the United States today, people asserting Irish ancestry are the second largest white ethnic group there are more people claiming German ancestry. This chapter includes the perspective of the Diaspora to move away from seeing the Irish American experience simply as the Irish Catholic American experience. Large number of Irish Americans served in the military during World War II. For the most part ethnic identity was not as prominent during the Second World War as it had been in early conflicts. Another of the images of Irish immigrants in the United States has been that they have been overwhelmingly unskilled, rural people.
