The Historical Context of Irish Immigration While the general public of today consider the Irish as under the umbrella term “Caucasian,” there was a point in American history where Irish immigrants had the same social status as African Americans. It occurred when the largest group of poor immigrants—over a million Irish immigrants—arrived on America’s doorstep during the years of the great Irish Potato Famine which began in 1845 and ended six years later (The History Place); the catastrophe sent the one million immigrants to America to simply try and survive. The racism, as it would be classified according to historical context, towards the Irish were not as institutionalized as the Japanese, which occurred 40 years later. Rather, majority
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However, while the Irish were initially intermingled with African Americans, a vast majority of the Irish population sided with the Confederacy in support of slavery, perhaps in attempt to elevate their own social status. After the Civil War and the industrialization of America began, the Irish were part of the many that supported the changes on from the bottom, working in the physical labor and factories that supported the new industries, and resulted in the Irish rallying for safer work conditions and higher salaries (The History Place). As the world continue to change, so did the view on the Irish people and, eventually, America accepted the Irish not only as their own ethnicity but, perhaps even more importantly, under the title of …show more content…
While the Irish and Japanese immigrants shared commonality among job positions and social status, at least for a short duration, the time periods in which both ethnicities entered America are vastly different and should be considered when providing commentary on either or. The treatment of both ethnicities did have similarities, but the forms of racism and bigotry were often appropriate to the way American government, both state and federal, functioned at the time or lack thereof, and what the majority of the American population, believed in terms of morals and ways of life. Simply stated, historical context provides sociologist and the general public alike the understanding of the time period in which what is being examined can be rationalized and explained why it is the way it is; without, events and people alike couldn’t be understand for the complexity and importance that they
However, while the Irish were initially intermingled with African Americans, a vast majority of the Irish population sided with the Confederacy in support of slavery, perhaps in attempt to elevate their own social status. After the Civil War and the industrialization of America began, the Irish were part of the many that supported the changes on from the bottom, working in the physical labor and factories that supported the new industries, and resulted in the Irish rallying for safer work conditions and higher salaries (The History Place). As the world continue to change, so did the view on the Irish people and, eventually, America accepted the Irish not only as their own ethnicity but, perhaps even more importantly, under the title of …show more content…
While the Irish and Japanese immigrants shared commonality among job positions and social status, at least for a short duration, the time periods in which both ethnicities entered America are vastly different and should be considered when providing commentary on either or. The treatment of both ethnicities did have similarities, but the forms of racism and bigotry were often appropriate to the way American government, both state and federal, functioned at the time or lack thereof, and what the majority of the American population, believed in terms of morals and ways of life. Simply stated, historical context provides sociologist and the general public alike the understanding of the time period in which what is being examined can be rationalized and explained why it is the way it is; without, events and people alike couldn’t be understand for the complexity and importance that they