Irish Chicago DVD
Irish Chicago is an eighty‐minute documentary filled with stories of the
Irish American immigrants and their descendants who lived the history, the struggles,
and the triumphs of everyday existence in Chicago. From the days of Chicago’s
founding in 1833, the city has been the final stop for people journeying from all
over the world looking for a land of opportunity. From the beginning, these new arrivals
have inexorably altered Chicago, and the Irish richly exemplify the outsider becoming
the ultimate citizen insider. The story of the city is one with the story of its Irish
citizens, those who dug the canal that led to the land boom that created the hardworking
fast growing city by the lake, those who worked the factories and slaughterhouses
that fed the city’s economy, those who became leaders in politics, as well as
those who made significant contributions to the city’s growing cultural life.
And today’s Chicago is filled with their descendants doing the work to keep
the region vibrant, competitive, and livable. Stories from a core group of contemporary
Chicagoans who have Irish roots will be used as springboards to dig back into the
city’s rich history to show the role the Irish played in building this great
city.
