Between Raid and Rebellion : The Irish in Buffalo and Toronto, 1867-1916

A comparative study of Irish communities in a Canadian and an American city. A comparative study of Irish communities in a Canadian and an American city. Winner: Joseph Brant Award (2014), Ontario Historical Society Winner: Clio Prize (Ontario) (2014), Canadian Historical Association Winner: The James S. Donnelly Sr. Prize (2014), American Conference for Irish Studies Winner: Geographical Society of Ireland Book of the Year Award (2013-2015) In Between Raid and Rebellion, William Jenkins compares the lives and allegiances of Irish immigrants and their descendants in one American and one Canadian city between the era of the Fenian raids and the 1916 Easter Rising. Highlighting the significance of immigrants from Ulster to Toronto and from Munster to Buffalo, he distinguishes what it meant to be Irish in a loyal dominion within Britain's empire and in a republic whose self-confidence knew no bounds. Jenkins pays close attention to the transformations that occurred within the Irish communities in these cities during this fifty-year period, from residential patterns to social mobility and political attitudes. Exploring their experiences in workplaces, homes, churches, and meeting halls, he argues that while various social, cultural, and political networks were crucial to the realization of Irish mobility and respectability in North America by the early twentieth century, place-related circumstances were linked to wider national loyalties and diasporic concerns. With the question of Irish Home Rule animating debates throughout the period, Toronto's unionist sympathizers presented a marked contrast to Buffalo's nationalist agitators. Although the Irish had acclimated to life in their new world cities, their sense of feeling Irish had not faded to the degree so often assumed. A groundbreaking comparative analysis, Between Raid and Rebellion draws upon perspectives from history and geography to enhance our understanding of the Irish experiences in these centres and the process by which immigrants settle into new urban environments. Cover McGill-Queen’s Studies in Ethnic History Copyright Contents Figures Tables Acknowledgments 1 Introduction: Irish Immigrants and Questions of Place PART ONE Irish Lives, Places, and Identities in Late Victorian Buffalo and Toronto 2 Nineteenth-Century Buffalo and Toronto and the Contexts of Irish Immigration 3 Known Groups: Patterns of Work, Residence, and Everyday Survival 4 Pews and Parades: Institutions, Networks, and Social Encounters 5 Wards and Votes: The Irish and Their Political Arenas 6 From Misrule to Rome Rule: Irish Diaspora Politics in the Post-Ridgeway Era PART TWO Continuities and Transitions in the Early Twentieth Century 7 Channels, Niches, and Preserves: Occupations and Careers in the Early Twentieth Century 8 Lodges and Lace Curtains: Homes and Neighbourhoods, c. 1900–15 9 Prevailing Threads: Diasporic Nationalism and Unionism, c. 1893–1916 Conclusion: More than Just Points on the Map APPENDICES Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C Appendix D Notes Bibliography Index A groundbreaking comparative analysis, Between Raid and Rebellion draws upon perspectives from history and geography to enhance our understanding of the Irish experiences in these centers and the process by which immigrants settle into new urban environments."--Pub. desc