Article Title

Belfast Maine: Irish Identity and Acceptance In a Small City On Penobscot Bay

Authors

Kay Retzlaff, University of Maine Augusta

Publication Date

1-1-2017

Document Type

Article

First Page

109

Last Page

130

Abstract

Retzlaff’s article examines how stereotypes were applied to Irish newcomers in early Belfast, Maine, even by “old-timers,” who also descended from Irish immigrants. Neither shared ancestry nor shared religion removed the stigma of these stereotypes, which complicated Irish identity in Belfast during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as Protestant and Catholic newcomers alike sought to benefit from their ties to the Irish community while separating themselves from their Irish tropes. Kay Retzlaff is a professor of English at the University of Maine at Augusta. She earned her PhD from the University of Maine. Her MA and BA are from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She has taught at the University of Kentucky and the American University. She is writing the history of the Irish community in Belfast, Maine

Recommended Citation

Retzlaff, Kay. "Belfast Maine: Irish Identity and Acceptance In a Small City On Penobscot Bay." Maine History 51, 1 (2017): 109-130. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mainehistoryjournal/vol51/iss1/6