Speech #1010195628

I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the IrishAmerican heritage by summarizing some of the Irish history with particular emphasis on the Irish in Chicago. It has been documented in many publications that during the mid1800s. Irelands Great Famine drove almost 1 million. mostly poverty striken. survivors to America. One of the unique aspects of the Irish European emigration was that women were about equal in numbers to that of men and a vast majority of both were single. young and Catholic. Since 1820 approximately 5 million Irish have come to the United States. Over 170 years ago urban frontier Chicago had an Irishborn population of almost 40.000.