Diane Palmer

Luck O’ the Irish

            When we first started this class, my only conceptions of immigration and immigration literature came from my roommate and the works of Frank McCourt, but now I feel like my knowledge has completely changed my perspective.  In a way, we have all become obsessed with this idea of the “Dominate Culture” and the ideals that surround the “Model Immigrant.”  My only question is where do the Irish immigrants fit into this picture?  While they are Caucasian and hard working, they are not classified with the Jews as “Model Immigrants” nor are they so ethnically and culturally different that they have the distinction of other immigrants like Hispanics, Asians, or the people of Caribbean.  What makes the Irish so biasedly hated that they are condemned during a time when Caucasians are the major make-up of the dominant culture?  

            The first website I visited focused on the religious aspect of the Irish and the mere fact that they are Catholics in a country founded by Protestants who were persecuted by the Catholics.  Apparently, the violence was so severe that in 1831 Protestants burned St. Mary’s Catholic Church in New York City, and later thirteen Irish Catholics were killed in Philadelphia in 1844.  The Nativist American Party was formed in the 1840s, and their primary goal was to promote American ideals and reject all foreigners.  Their motto was "…elect to all offices of Honor, Profit, or Trust, no one but native born citizens of America, of this Country to the exclusion of all Foreigners, and to all Roman Catholics, whether they be of native or Foreign Birth, regardless of all party predilections whatever" (Religious). 

            While the American Party does not specifically direct themselves at the Irish, I can see why this would be one aspect of the bias against them.  Especially as we are now reading Bradford, it is understandable that the dominant culture of the American society would be hesitant in allowing those who persecuted them into the country they founded to specifically get away from them.  While it seems that two hundred years should be plenty of time to heal the wounds made by the Catholics, this may not be the case.  Put it in the perspective of slavery.  It has now been over a hundred years, yet no one expects the blacks to forget the horrendous injustice they suffered.  So it is little wonder that the Protestants were not ready to forget either. 

            On the same website, under a different subtitle, there was a different take on the Irish.  This article explains that the Irish and the blacks were put in such a position by the dominant culture that they were forced to compete with each other.  For example, in the antebellum South, blacks were not allowed to perform dangerous work because slaves were valued and no master wanted them lost.  Because the Irish were the minority and were under no ones protection, they were forced to take the most dangerous jobs available at low wages.  Sometimes they were even required to take jobs by military force. Tensions increased when lower class whites became eligible for the draft while upper class whites could buy their way out of it and free-slaves could volunteer if they wanted but would not be drafted (Racial).

This helped explain why even though the Irish were rejected by the dominant white culture, they were also rejected by minority cultures.  They may have shared many problems with them but while one envied the Irish for their freedom, the Irish envied the blacks the protection they received.  It would be hard for the minority cultures to sympathize with the Irish because, I imagine in their minds, the Irish had a choice because they were free and were choosing poorly.  While the slaves had no choice and were forced to work, the Irish could choose to live the “American Dream.”  Unfortunately for the Irish, they are stuck in a position with little way out, so their “American Dream” has become the “American Nightmare.”

The second website I visited spoke of the Potato Famine, and it being the overall cause of Irish discrimination.  The Potato Famine began in 1845 and killed over a million Irish.  Their only way to escape it was to go to America.  Within five years, over five hundred thousand Irish had immigrated to America.  Unfortunately, there were only two main ports to enter in, New York and Boston.  Because the Irish had no money to begin with, they were forced to stay in these two cities that were already over crowded.  Housing became a problem due to the rapid flood of Irish immigrants, so many lived nine to a room.   There were too many of them and too few jobs, so because so many Irish were out of work, they gained the reputation of being lazy and dirty.  Everywhere signs shouting “No Irish” were posted everywhere (McKnelly).

No wonder the Irish were hated.  This was not a few families immigrating; this was a National Migration.  The Irish were looking for a Promise land in America, but not for the “American Dream” but a chance to live.  The dominant culture could not possibly want to be removed like the Canaanites, so they fought back by practically enslaving the Irish like the Pharaoh did to the Jews.  Perhaps if the Irish had a slower rate of immigration, their outcome would have been different. 

            A third website I visited claimed that the discrimination against the Irish may have been due to their lack of assimilation.  While many Irish were forced to come during the Potato Famine, many more immigrated during the late 19^th and early 20^th century.  But just as before, they had little to no money, so they were forced to stay in Boston and New York rather than moving west and farming.   The families were forced to stay together to reduce spending but also stayed together due to their strong Catholic ties.  Because many signs stated “No Irish” and showed strong prejudice against them, they fought back rather than trying to assimilate.  Many Irish refused to give up their religion, their accent, and their way of life to assimilate into a culture that did not like them. One of the Irish sayings at the time was “Irish Diplomacy is telling someone to go to Hell and having them end up looking forward to the trip” (D. Ed).

            While many could argue that there are plenty of other immigrants who went through the same discrimination as the Irish, I don’t think they can argue that they had the same “experience” as the Irish.  It is true that the Jewish came over and struggled to survive in America, but they did not have to deal with the anti-Catholic bias that the Irish dealt with.  The Jews did not persecute the Protestants, but the Catholics had a history of doing so.  On a second note, there is also little wonder why they didn’t receive a warm welcome from minorities.  The dominant culture, intentionally or unintentionally, had them pitted against each other as enemies, so that both sides were set up for failure.  If they had perhaps seen past the competition and worked together, history might have been different, but that is all hindsight.  I also like the idea that the Irish were a National Migration forced to flee from one land to another, yet could not replace the people, so were discriminated against.  Unlike the Jews immigrating to Canaan, the Irish did not have a happy ending in America.  While the ending may seem tragic, not all was lost.  The Irish have become a huge part of American culture and continue to influence our land with art, prose, poetry, politics, etc.

Work Cited

D. Ed, Katherine F., Julia M., Dan O. "Introduction." Irish Immigration. 1995. 26 Jun 2006 http://nhs.needham.k12.ma.us//cur/kane98/kane_p3_immig/
Irish/irish.html.

McKnelly, Caitlin. "Immigration and Discrimination." The Irish in America. 28 Jun 2006 <http://www.sunflower.com/~caitlin/Immigration.html>.

"Racial Tension." Immigration. 04 June 2003. The Library of Congress. 26 Jun 2006 <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/features/immig/irish.html>.

"Religious Conflict and Discrimination." Immigration. 04 June 2003. The Library of Congress. 26 Jun 2006

<http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/features/immig/irish.html>.