During the 1800’s, the potato famine in Ireland caused around one million Irish people to immigrate to America. They settled in cities and worked in factories, and generally, were pretty poor. With the Irish immigration came a lot of Anti-Irish Sentiment from the Americans. That leads us back to the question- were Irish considered white in the 19th century America? Well, that depends on what your definition of “white” is. Obviously, it is a color...or rather, lack of color. It can also be used to describe Caucasians, because of their skin color. However, in this case, we are dealing with what is known as “white privileges”. White privileges are basically the privileges and ways of life that the white people of America enjoyed in the 19th century.
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They were treated unfairly, persecuted, and forced to work in factories or at other low paying jobs that overall resulted in Irish poverty. The book Wages of Whiteness, by David Roediger in 1991 mentions how the Irish were looked upon by Americans, and their social status. According to Roediger, “...Irish American workers…[were sometimes] used as substitutes for slaves within the South...ditching and draining plantations...building levees...clearing land…” The Irish were used like slaves to do all the hard work, definitely not part of the “white privilege.” In a drawing by Thomas Nast in December, 1876, for the Harper’s Weekly, there is a scale with one side labeled South and the other labeled North. Sitting on South side of the scale is a black man, and sitting on the other side is an Irish man. The scale lies equally balanced, showing that at the time, an Irish man in the north was worth no more than a black slave in the south. In fact, some people even believed that the Irish workers were worth less than black slaves. According to Roediger, “...One Southerner explained the use of Irish labor on the grounds that: “n-----s are worth too much to be risked here; if the Paddies (Irish) are knocked overboard...nobody loses anything’...” The black slaves were obviously not considered to be white or have white privileges during the 19th century in America; to put the Irish immigrants underneath …show more content…
They were made fun of, and discriminated against, making them not considered “white” like all the other Americans. Propaganda was created against the Irish immigrants. For example, in the Boston Newspaper known as The Know- Nothing and American Crusader, an article titled “Things Which Roman Catholic Priests and All True Roman Catholics Hate,” describes what Americans assume that the Irish hate about America. It describes how they, “...HATE our Republic...our Flag...the liberty of press [and of] speech...our Public School system...the Bible...Protestants…” and more. Throughout the article, it also portrays the Irish immigrants as evil and upset, making it seem like they wanted to destroy America. In a cartoon by Frederick Burr Opper in 1883, it shows a white woman pleading her stubborn Irish cook to continue to work in the kitchen. It shows the Irish woman as looking almost like a cow, and makes her seem hot headed and defiant. If the Irish were hated so much by the American white people, they definitely were not considered their
They were treated unfairly, persecuted, and forced to work in factories or at other low paying jobs that overall resulted in Irish poverty. The book Wages of Whiteness, by David Roediger in 1991 mentions how the Irish were looked upon by Americans, and their social status. According to Roediger, “...Irish American workers…[were sometimes] used as substitutes for slaves within the South...ditching and draining plantations...building levees...clearing land…” The Irish were used like slaves to do all the hard work, definitely not part of the “white privilege.” In a drawing by Thomas Nast in December, 1876, for the Harper’s Weekly, there is a scale with one side labeled South and the other labeled North. Sitting on South side of the scale is a black man, and sitting on the other side is an Irish man. The scale lies equally balanced, showing that at the time, an Irish man in the north was worth no more than a black slave in the south. In fact, some people even believed that the Irish workers were worth less than black slaves. According to Roediger, “...One Southerner explained the use of Irish labor on the grounds that: “n-----s are worth too much to be risked here; if the Paddies (Irish) are knocked overboard...nobody loses anything’...” The black slaves were obviously not considered to be white or have white privileges during the 19th century in America; to put the Irish immigrants underneath …show more content…
They were made fun of, and discriminated against, making them not considered “white” like all the other Americans. Propaganda was created against the Irish immigrants. For example, in the Boston Newspaper known as The Know- Nothing and American Crusader, an article titled “Things Which Roman Catholic Priests and All True Roman Catholics Hate,” describes what Americans assume that the Irish hate about America. It describes how they, “...HATE our Republic...our Flag...the liberty of press [and of] speech...our Public School system...the Bible...Protestants…” and more. Throughout the article, it also portrays the Irish immigrants as evil and upset, making it seem like they wanted to destroy America. In a cartoon by Frederick Burr Opper in 1883, it shows a white woman pleading her stubborn Irish cook to continue to work in the kitchen. It shows the Irish woman as looking almost like a cow, and makes her seem hot headed and defiant. If the Irish were hated so much by the American white people, they definitely were not considered their