The Irish Americans had a tough life when they immigrated to the United States in the mid- 1840's. There was a very large anti-Catholic, anti-Irish sentiment in those days and it made it very difficult for people of Irish descent to become employed. Although there was heavy discrimination against this ethnic group, it did not stop these people from having a strong ethnic solidarity.
As early as the mid- 1840's and as late as today, Irish Catholics have had the cultural bias against them that they were alcoholics. As far as some people are concerned, if you are Irish, you are also Catholic and drunk as often as possible. While this may have been true of some people that identified with being Irish Catholic, it did not mean that everyone was and it also didn't take into account that there are also alcoholics in other ethnic groups.
A positive representation for the Irish Catholic community is this guy, the Notre Dame Leprechaun. Notre Dame is a very good Catholic University in the United States. It was founded by Father Edward Sorin of the Congregation of Holy Cross is the year 1844. The first degrees handed out in 1849 helped to establish the school as a university.
Source: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/irish_am_solidarity.cfm
1. http://stupid-tees.co.uk/image/cache/data/product-images/C/CIA-CATHOLIC_IRISH_ALCOHOLIC_close-472x472.jpg
2. http://www.catholicleague.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/fightingirish.jpg
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