Black Powder, White Lace: The du Pont Irish and Cultural Identity in Nineteenth-Century America

Margaret M. Mulrooney

Published by University of Delaware Press 2023

Black Powder, White Lace

The du Pont Irish and Cultural Identity in Nineteenth-Century America

Margaret M. Mulrooney

In the series Cultural Studies of Delaware and the Eastern Shore

https://doi.org/10.36019/9781644532843

Overview
Contents

About this book

Twenty years ago, Margaret Mulrooney's history of the community of Irish immigrant workers at the du Pont powder yards, Black Powder, White Lace, was published to wide acclaim. Now, as much of the materials Mulrooney used in her research are now electronically available to the public, and as debates about immigration continue to rage, a new edition of the book is being published to remind readers of the rich materials available on the du Pont workers, and of Mulrooney's powerful conclusions about immigrant communities in America. Explosives work was dangerous, but the du Ponts provided a host of benefits to their workers. As a result, the Irish remained loyal to their employers, convinced by their everyday experiences that their interests and the du Ponts' were one and the same. Employing a wide array of sources, Mulrooney turns away from the worksite and toward the domestic sphere, revealing that powder mill families asserted their distinctive ethno-religious heritage at the same time as they embraced what U.S. capitalism had to offer.

Author / Editor information

Margaret Mulrooney is a Professor of History at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA. She is the author of Deep Current: Race, Place and Memory in Wilmington, NC (2018) and the editor of Fleeing the Famine: North America and Irish Refugees, 1845-1851 (2003).

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface to the Anniversary Edition Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Acknowledgments to the Anniversary Edition Publicly Available Download PDF	xvii
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 1 Mutual Interests Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	13
Chapter 2 The Ties That Bind Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	40
Chapter 3 A Distinctive Faith Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	58
Chapter 4 The Bean a Ti (Woman of the House) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	86
Chapter 5 Habitations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	106
Chapter 6 All the Goods and Chattels Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	133
Chapter 7 Porches, Yards, Gardens, Fences Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
Chapter 8 Linen Tablecloths and Lace Curtains Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	247
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	261
About the Author Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	267