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• 1 2017-03-23T13:16:16-07:00 Irish in 19th Century America 4 plain 2017-03-23T13:24:04-07:00 By modern context, An unlikely recipient of targeted hate was the Irish immigrant. They were white, yet American society made every effort to equate the Irishman and the black man as inferior to the typical Anglo-white man. Before immigrating to the the United States, Irish faced severe mistreatment by the British who viewed the Irish as second class citizens. The potato famine, which decimated the Irish population, was the driving force behind such a large influx of immigrants. In the eyes of the average American, Irish men and black men shared similar undesirable traits. Stupidity and laziness were depicted frequently, as well as Irish drunkenness and their supposed criminal nature. Similar to black stereotypical images, the Irish were depicted as animalistic or beastly with exaggerated features. A cartoon by The New York Magazine with the title "The Day We Celebrate" depicts Irish men as a group of baboons. This stereotypical image worked to discredit their intelligence, mock their appearance and further alienate the Irish population as the "other". Why the Irish were treated so poorly was in part due to resentment amongst Americans who now had to compete for jobs with a newly freed population of slaves and wave of immigrants. The hateful sentiment spread resulting in images like one of America being a literal melting pot, but the Irish being an un-mixable ingredient. After some time the Irish were able to better integrate with American culture and anti-Irish sentiment gradually faded, but this only took place after the Irish were subjected to stereotyping and discrimination upon their arrival as immigrants to the United States.