"Adopting the Yankee Past as Their Own": Boston's Irish and Jewish Communities Celebrate New England's Revolutionary Heritage, 1875-1917.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Bostons Irish Catholic and Jewish communities contested Yankee narratives of New England's colonial and revolutionary history by integrating their heritage into patriotic holidays such as the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Patriots' Day, Bunker Hill Day, and Evacuation Day. As their numbers, economic influence, and political power grew, they used public rituals-parades, meetings, and banquets-to highlight their dedication to democracy, contributions to America. and shared struggles against oppression. These celebrations became a means of acculturation, allowing them to embrace, resbape, and claim civic holidays once dominated by Yankee elites. In this way, Irish Catholics and Jews broadened the meaning of American identity and secured their place in Boston. Dr. Meaghan Dwyer-Ryan is Associate Director of the Center for Irish Research and Teaching at Georgia Southern University and the lead author € fBecoming American Jews: Temple Israel of Boston (Brandeis University Press, 2009). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]