In the late nineteenth century, an era in which social mobility was measured almost exclusively by the success of men, Irish-American women were leading their ethnic group into the lower-middle-class occupations of civil service, teaching, and health care. Unlike their immigrant mothers who became servants of the rich, Irish-American daughters became servants of the poor by teaching in public school classrooms. The remarkable success of Irish-American women was tied to their educational achievements. Unlike many of their contemporaries, the daughters of Irish America attended four-year...

In the late nineteenth century, an era in which social mobility was measured almost exclusively by the success of men, Irish-American women were leading their ethnic group into the lower-middle-class occupations of civil service, teaching, and health care. Unlike their immigrant mothers who often became servants of the rich, Irish-American daughters became servants of the poor by teaching in public school classrooms. Janet Nolan argues that the remarkable success of Irish-American women was tied to their educational achievements and to the encouragement of their mothers who had been educated...