BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE: Johnny Molloy was born in Bantrach Ard, Connemara, County Galway, in 1938 and moved to the Boston area in 1959. His occupations included floor sweeper, bricklayer, and Boston Police Officer. INTERVIEW SUMMARY: Growing up in poverty; walking to and attending school; learning to read English only; attending St. Mary’s School in Galway; recreational activities; music; storytelling; Dinneen’s Dictionary; moved to Boston in 1959; Irish cultural organizations in Boston; living in South Boston and Brookline; finding work sweeping floors; working as a bricklayer; joining the Boston Police Department for 18 years; back injury; social life in Boston; dance halls; met his wife who came from Leitrim; moved to Brighton; moved to North Easton; birth of two daughters; drinking alcohol; playing the accordion; decision not to visit Ireland; memories of poverty and rotten potatoes. The Boston and the Irish Language project investigates the unique importance of Irish in forming persistent bonds among and between Connemara emigrants living in Boston with their families and communities in Ireland through recorded personal interviews. Questions explored include: upbringing through the Irish language, economic and social conditions in Ireland, reasons for emigration or return, adaptation to and participation in life within the United States, changes experienced since arrival, and current use of Irish. The project is sponsored by Cumann na Gaeilge i mBoston (The Irish Language Society of Boston), and supported by a Mass Humanities project grant and the Emigrant Support Programme of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ireland.
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