[crowd yelling]
NARRATOR: Timothy Lynch and Michael Ryan,
two young Irish Americans, targeted by police.
Beatings, poverty, discrimination,
anti-Catholic prejudice ensures the city's Irish minority
remain stuck at the bottom of the ladder.
Anti-Irish sentiment was anti-Catholic sentiment,
and there were some horrific examples of it in 19th
and early 20th century America.
[groaning]
Boston's North End, where we are now,
becomes the heart of Boston's Irish community.
It's just a few steps from the docks, where the ships are
unloading.
All of these apartments would house 30, 40 people.
You're just paying for a spot on the bed or a place to sleep.
No indoor plumbing, no washing facilities,
very little ventilation.
NARRATOR: For one man, enough is enough.
They did what?
NARRATOR: This is Patrick J. Maguire, tenacious, Catholic,
fiercely Irish American.
Born in Ireland, educated and ambitious,
he realizes America offers a unique way
to help his people escape poverty and oppression.
Using the tools of American democracy
to win political power with Boston's first Irish mayor.
[bangs on table]
Gentlemen, the time has come.
We must make our voices heard.
[crowd muttering in agreement]
To Boston!
To the Irish!
NARRATOR: In 1883, Maguire persuades fellow Irishman,
Hugh O'Brien to run.
Gentleman, a few words from your first Irish candidate.
[cheering]
Thank you, thank you.
NARRATOR: But with the Catholic Irish immigrant community
in a minority, Maguire knows he'll need Protestant Yankee
votes to win.
O'Brien has a timeless message for what he will do.
He's going to cut taxes, but also not cut any services.
In 1884, for the first time ever, O'Brien
wins a clear victory, showing a path out
of poverty and injustice for all future immigrants.
Maguire's lasting political legacy
is showing that the Irish people, or really,
any immigrant people, can have a home here
and that they will have a political voice
in the American republic.
NARRATOR: Today, there are over 32 million Americans who
claim Irish heritage, five times the population of Ireland
itself.