American Pop!

I may not be Irish but the more I study the history of America. Black and Irish Americans have a lot in common! You don't believe me?! Check this out!

1. Both Blacks and Irish have fought in every war America has fought since the American Revolution!

Every Irish and African-American solider has either served one another, fought and/or died for this country in some form. It’s been known that an Irish regiment and a Black regiment fought side by side during the Battle of Trenton during the Christmas of 1776.

2. We both come from an agrarian culture.

Ireland’s economy is strongly agrarian as well, having a strong fishing industry. Many African slaves in America came from a continent where agriculture was key to its prosperity. Both ethnic groups post civil war and Jim Crow worked as share croppers on tobacco and cotton fields.

3. We both built the transcontinental railroad together.

From 1845 until 1897, Irish immigrants and free black labor has toiled to bridge the east and west Coasts together through the Transcontinental Railroad.

4. Historically, both Irish and Black women, if they had to, work worked as domestics.

It was the only career goals for a young Irish woman and Black woman to have during the 19th century.

5. Most working class Irish and Black Americans were the first men to join and form unions!

Without these two ethnic groups, America would not have a middle class today. AFL-CIO was specially created by Irish and Black Workers to demand bargaining rights to their factories.

6. They both were the inventors of rock n roll!

Elvis, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Donino, Johnny Cash and Little Richard were the architects of rock. They share a same cultural exchange of blues and bluegrass country.

7. They both were the inventors of tap dancing!

The true combination of Irish step dancing and African rhythms created this art form. The best tap dancers were Irish like Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Eleanor Powell and Black like Bill Bojangkes Robinson, Gregory Hines and Savion Glover.

8. The greatest Christian Hymns were written by Irish and Black Americans!

Greatest Christian Songwriters like Fanny Crosby, Bill Gaither, Toby MAC , Thomas Dorsey, James Cleveland and Kirk Franklin are soul brothers and sisters when it comes to music.

9. When we arrived in America, both groups were indentured servant.

Of course Black folks were enslaved a little longer and some Irish owned Black slaves.

10. Both groups are excellent orators!

Great speakers like Williams Jennings Bryan, John F Kennedy and Tip O'Neal were as influential as black speakers like MLK , Jesse JACKSON and Malcolm X.

11. Both groups are excellent oral storytellers!

Great writers like Janes Joyce. John Steinbeck and Eugene Oneil were in great company with black writers like James Baldwin, Langston Hughes and August Wilson.

12. Both groups are traditionally very religious!

Whether Protestant or Catholic, both groups faith is very strong in this country.

13. Boxing

Both groups come from a great boxing tradition.

14. Both groups are excellent singers.

From singers like Bing Crosby, Dennis Day & Jack Cassidy. These Irish Tenors were in great company with Black Tenors Luther Vandross, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder.

15. Both ethnic groups are founders of the Tim Pan Alley which created the Great White Way.

Eubie Blake and George M. Cohan were close friends and it was their moxie that established the modern Musical Theatre Show.

16. Both communities come from a vaudeville comic tradition.

Famous Irish Funnymen like Ozzie Nelson, Bing Crosby and Lenny Clarke are in the same class as legendary comics like Moms Mabley, Pig Meat Markem and Richard Pryor.

17. Suffragette Movements

17. Both Ethic Groups were significantly involved the Suffragette movements.

18. Both ethnic groups make the best city mayors.

For example: Richard Daley (Irish) of Chicago and Ed Bradley (Black) of Los Angeles.

19. Both ethnic groups helped in the establishment of modern jazz.

Great musicians like Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong, Harry James, and Miles Davis were vital to the establishment of modern jazz.

20. Both ethnic groups were a part of the establishment of blue grass and roots music.

We are different through ethnic, class and culture but we do have ONE thing common. We are the hands that built America.