Today many people in the US celebrate their Irish Heritage,and even those who aren’t Irish are happy to indulge in all thing pseudo-Irish. This wasn’t always the case. In the 1800s, especially after the potato famine in the 1840s the Irish came to the US in unwelcome droves.
The first problem was that the Irish who came after the famine were Catholic. Catholics were considered dangerous because they would be loyal to the pope instead of the the US government. The Protestants in the US responded by injecting religion into the schools and evangelizing. The Irish responded by developing a Catholic school system which scared the American populace even more.
The American Pope 1894
The Usual Irish Way of Doing Things
In addition to the fears about Catholics, the Irish were considered not ‘white’, but an inferior race. Victorian English people widely believed in a hierarchy of races with the English at the top and Irish, Native Americans, Muslims, and blacks at the bottom. The scientists of the time had ‘evidence’ of phrenology and other physical measurements that ‘showed’ that other races including the Irish weren’t totally human. The unscientific science was used as a rationale for discrimination and abuse.
The racism against the Irish and the fear of Catholics was an issue even into the 1960s when JFK was elected president. All of this makes me think more about my ancestors and the obstacles they faced both in Ireland and the US. Also makes me think more about how I view people who are different.
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