Irish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. Roughly another 3.5 million (or about another 1.2% of Americans) identified more specifically with Scotch-Irish ancestry. The Irish diaspora population in the United States is roughly six times the modern population of Ireland.
The only self-reported ancestral group larger than Irish Americans is German Americans. The Irish are widely dispersed in terms of geography, and demographics. Irish American political leaders have played a major role in local and national politics since before the American Revolutionary War: eight Irish Americans signed the United States Declaration of Independence, and twenty-two American Presidents, from Andrew Jackson to Barack Obama, have been at least partly of Irish ancestry.
Read more about Irish American: Religion, Discrimination, Sense of Heritage, Irish Americans in Politics and Government, Contributions To American Culture and Sport
Famous quotes containing the words irish american, irish and/or american:
“Irish Americans are about as Irish as black Americans are African.”
—Bob Geldof (b. 1954)
“The Irish ... are the damnedest race. They put so much emphasis on so many wrong things.”
—Margaret Mitchell (1900–1949)
“We hear about constitutional rights, free speech and the free press. Every time I hear those words I say to myself, “That man is a Red, that man is a Communist.” You never heard a real American talk in that manner.”
—Frank Hague (1876–1956)