Early Irish Immigrants in the U.S.

Irish immigrants in the U.S. were treated as lesser beings, though it seems a majority felt that conditions in the U.S. were better than at home. English occupation of Ireland impoverished and disinherited Irish people; their conditions were only exacerbated by the potato famine. Regarded as savages by their English occupiers, the Irish which immigrated to the U.S. encountered some similar mentalities toward them. While conditions may not have met their expectations, they encountered more opportunity and mobility in the U.S. Earlier waves of Irish immigrants were often hired for unsafe and poorly paid labor jobs, such as those on the railroad or in mines. Working for meager pay and in positions which subjected them to higher rates of injury and death than other laborers, Irish encountered an America in which they felt enslaved and as poorly treated as in Ireland under the English.

Later waves of Irish immigrants would find better conditions. While Irish immigrants weren’t seen as favorably as earlier English immigrants to the U.S., they had many advantages over other immigrant populations who were immigrating around the same time. Unlike Chinese and Italian immigrants, Irish immigrants spoke English and thus had an advantage in American society. Likewise, their “whiteness” gave them advantages over Chinese and African American populations in finding work in an unfairly discriminating society. These tensions, advantages, and disadvantages put Irish often in conflict with other minorities; both sides often felt that the other threatened their prospects for employment. Irish in shoe factories (and others) were replaced by Chinese workers. African Americans often felt like Irish immigrants were taking away their American jobs, while Irish would often feel that African Americans were taking jobs that would better be held by white people.

It is my experience that some tensions and forms of solidarity still exist between marginalized groups today. Prejudice among minorities toward other minorities exist in American culture, perhaps because of similar feelings that their communities are in competition for limited jobs. Perhaps more likely is that forms of prejudice still dominant in American society are often internalized by minorities themselves. Marginalized communities can develop prejudices against their own communities and the communities of others based on dominant forms of discrimination and prejudice that exist in society, its systems, and media.