NINE IRISH WOMEN WRITERS OF DISTINCTION IN BOSTON

The post-Famine generation of Irish women in Boston and New England were typically relegated to jobs as domestic servants, nursemaids and mill workers, before eventually being accepted as shop clerks, nurses and teachers. This work was often in addition to their primary role running households as wives and mothers. The young Irish girls of the Famine generation who benefited the most were the ones who took advantage of education and learning in both public and parochial schools, giving them an unparalleled opportunity to distinguish themselves as individuals, artists and professionals. By the 1870s, a new generation of Irish and Irish-American women were establishing themselves as poets, children's book authors, novelists, essayists and travel writers. These women took up writing as a way of earning a living but also as a creative response to their own lives and the lives of their families. Here is a sketch of nine Irish women writers who bec...