Immigrants to America: The Irish (Module 6)

The significantly impactful market revolution of the late 18th to early 19th centuries had not greater impact than that of on America's urban centers (1, 360). This was where the greatest number of immigrants coming to seek a better life in the increasingly dynamic American economy would settle (1, 360). The Irish were one of these such groups of people.

During the mid-19th century, the Irish were one of the two largest immigrant groups to settle in the United States (1, 360). Emigration of Irish to the United States "dated from colonial times", but the Potato Famine of 1845-1849 would have the infamous fortune of being responsible for bringing the largest number of Irish to America the country had ever seen (1, 360). Under the greatly despised colonial rule of the British, the Irish were forced onto "small plots of farmland" on which they were forced to grow grain for their British landlords and then plant potatoes for sustenance (1, 360). In 1845, Ireland's vital potato crop "turned black with blight" (1, 360). The government of Great Britain could not assuage the massive food shortage in Ireland, and thus, the Irish were forced to choose between leaving their homeland or staying and starving to death (1, 360). 1.5 million Irish chose to immigrate, most to the United States, and 1 million Irish eventually died during the Potato Famine (1, 360). The emigrating "Famine Irish" arrived in America's east coast sea ports of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Baltimore "starving, diseased, and destitute" (1. 360).

"The Usual Irish Way of Doing Things"

The "starving, diseased, and destitute" Irish were the United States "first large refugee group" (1, 360). These newcomers to America stood out especially for their "non-English" Irish dialect, their extreme poverty, their Catholic religion (1, 360), their "pastimes (drinking and fighting, their critics said), their "national(ism) and anti-British" attitudes (1, 361). The above cartoon by Thomas Nast illustrates some of the stereotypical and racist views commonly held in regard to the Irish and Irish-Americans: that of perpetual intoxication, having a short temper, and being animals. Their lack of funds available to leave the large eastern cities for the interior of the country, forced them to "crowd together in miserable housing, (and be) desperate for work at any wages" (1, 360-361). Cheap Irish workers were "essential to the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825" and replaced more expensive native workers at the Lowell Mills in Massachusetts (1, 360). However, the close bond the Irish shared as being from the same country, their similar experiences in America, and the nature of cities, also allowed them to create their own ethnic enclave, their own "Little Ireland" (1, 361). In Boston and New York, where they primarily settled, the Irish worked to "raise...money to erect Catholic churches with Irish priests...(and) established parochial schools with Irish nuns" to educate their children (1, 363). In order to help each other in the new country, they "formed mutual aid societies based on kinship or town of origin in Ireland...(and) religious and social clubs, lodges, and brotherhoods with their female auxiliaries" (1, 363). They also sought to better there new community by participating in "fire and militia companies as well" (1, 363).

Common Anti-Irish Sign

These networks and organizations often served the Irish as valuable havens of support and community from the cruel prejudice of American society. Within a short period of time of arriving in the United States, it was clear that the Irish were not welcome. After experiencing a sudden burst in immigration of Irish into "smaller (compared to New York City) and homogeneous" Boston during the period of the Potato Famine, the Puritan and intellectual city viewed the new Catholic and illiterate immigrants with disdain (1, 361). Throughout the city signs in front of businesses and houses looking for help declared "No Irish Need Apply" (1, 361). Irish were also denied white privilege, and thus, often caricatured "as monkeys, similar to the way cartoonists portrayed African Americans" (1, 364). However, Irish responded to the racism they experienced by merely maintaining their "whiteness" (1, 364) and in turn participating in blackface minstrel shows that stereotyped African Americans (1, 364-365).

Though the Irish first faced the hardships of poverty and discrimination, Irish Americans today have largely overcome them and assimilated into the mainstream culture while still maintaining a strong sense of identity. And speaking as an Irish American, they would also do well to support new immigrants to the United States, remembering the difficult and sometimes hostile experiences their ancestors faced.

Work Cited:

(1) Faragher, John Mack, et al. Out of Many. 5th ed. Vol. I. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006. 2 Vols.

Image Cited:

Nast, Thomas. "The Usual Irish Way of Doing Things". Anti-Irish Racism. Wikipedia. 20 July 2007
<http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/66/TheUsualIrishWayofDoingThings.jpg>.

"Help Wanted: No Irish Need Apply". Help Wanted- No Irish Need Apply. Celtic Dragon Pub Company. 20 July 2007 <http://www.celticdragonpubco.com/shop/nina2cd.jpg>.