Racial Formation In The 19th And Early 20th Century

Racial formation, the “sociohistorical process by which racial categories are created, inhabited, transformed, and destroyed”, is heavily influenced by the structure—social institutions—and representation—ideologies—that exists within a society (Omi and Winant 20). As a historical construct, racial formation constantly evolves to fit with the structure and ideologies of a dynamic society. As a social construct, racial categories are created and defined by the dominant group based on hegemony, or ideologies that have become common sense. Such racial formation occurred for both the Irish and the African Americans during the 19th and early 20th century.
Unable to survive in their homeland, the Irish fled to the United States to seek refuge from British oppression. …show more content…
Upon their arrival, the Irish became exploitable as workers for hazardous jobs that “Yankees” refused to do such as railroad construction, canal construction, and mining. It was constantly reported that “an Irishman drowned—an Irishman crushed by a beam—an Irishman suffocated in a pit…”; the Irish were “made to work”, or realistically, “slave for the Americans” (Takaki 139). Furthermore, the Irish were restricted from the right to vote. Suffrage was strictly reserved for “whites” (Ignatiev 50). Although they were “white” in appearance, the Irish were not considered a part of “whiteness”. Therefore, “whiteness” was not a literal description of appearance; instead, it described the structure and hegemony in the specific era of American society that determined who was desirable as the top of the racial hierarchy. Since the Irish were not a part of “whiteness”, they were racialized by the “whites” as their own distinct racial category, “forced to occupy the bottom rungs of employment” and society, based on the hegemony that they were inherently “a race of savages… merely