Why Were the Irish Once Hated in America?

the Irish immigrants of the 19th century are used today as this perfect example of America's melting pot a foreign people who through hardship eventually became so assimilated they were distinct patriotic Americans yippee in fact the Irish assimilated so well the nationwide hatred they faced when first coming to the u.s. is either entirely forgotten or now seen as so absurd in hindsight but in the 1850s it was not absurd the Irishman was seen as a legitimate threat to the decency of the United States a foreigner who was sometimes not figuratively but literally viewed as an in-between cross of a man and beast that drunkenness that makes st. Patrick's Day celebrations famous was once viewed with disgust by most Americans only a hundred and fifty years ago and the question I wondered was why were the Irish so hated what was the origins of this incredible disgust the Americans had for them why didn't we see the same for other immigrants that came in far larger droves like Germans or poles the origins of this anti Irish sentiment began in Britain seeing as both have always been close neighbors anti-irish views have existed in some form since the medieval age the supposed barbarity of the Irish was even an excuse by the Catholic Church to invade the island in the topography 'hi Baraka written by Gerald of Wales in the 12th century the view of the Irish wasn't too fond the Irish are a rude people subsisting on the produce of their cattle only this people then is truly barbarous being not only barbarous in their dress but suffering their hair and beards to grow enormous Lee in an uncouth manner just like the modern fashion recently introduced indeed all their habits are barbarisms from up to the Middle Ages the Irish were not seen as civilized the British perception of Ireland came to view the Irish as a sinful bunch of savages who really adapted to be pious like the rest of Europe many military incursions in Ireland were almost like a medieval version of white man's burden the Irish didn't know what was good for them and to rule over them was really for their best interest they weren't truly Catholic and the British had to show them the way centuries later in an odd bit of irony this resentment for the Irish not being Catholic enough flipped over as the Irish were now resented for being Catholic at all when Henry the eighth's split Britain from the church the British expected the Irish would follow suit and abandon the Pope well this didn't happen and during a time when entire wars were fought between Catholics and Protestants this wasn't something the British would just shake off repeated attempts to convert the Irish to Protestantism all failed the stubbornness to not see the true light of Protestantism fostered a deep resentment towards the Irish it manifested itself in many forms to explain why the Irish were so daft and uneducated to follow the Catholic Church and not Protestants this religious origin slowly evolved as the 19th century came about the Enlightenment brought on scientific theory and with that the pseudoscience of racialism as well the Irish were viewed as violent belligerent and downright stupid entirely different from the sophistication of anglo-saxon race so the only explanation was at the Irish were a different race entirely and in many circles this perception stuck even though the Irish had pale skin and light hair they were seen as white apes something other while also not much of this bigotry really only stayed in Ireland until the potato famine the famine created a situation where millions of Irish fled many moving to England and settling the cities as poor immigrants this really didn't help the perception of them as impoverished and criminal so by the 19th century anti-irish views began to flare up once again even though America likes to see itself as independent it still gets influenced from time to time by Britain this Irish hatred was no different in the 1840s and 50s there was a dramatic explosion of Irish immigrants into the United States many were extremely poor and lived in pretty much squalor they did the jobs nobody else really wanted like building canals in fact in many parts entire section of building jobs were only Irishmen were the Irish universally hated no yet at the time the Irish were not viewed as an equal to the average American or even to the new immigrants of Germans and poles the stereotype of them as a violent and sinful people followed them across the sea so even if this downright racism against them wasn't as prominent as we imagined there was still a common discussed with the Irishman especially with their interactions with black Americans because of their poor status the Irish lived in the same poor neighborhoods as blacks and American cities they weren't entirely friendly with each other but compared to the relationship between whites and blacks at the time and seemed downright friendly Irish and blacks in the same clubs streets even interracial relationships to white Americans this gave the Irish the association of being dirty in fact many simply called the Irish white - some Americans blacks were actually higher on the hierarchy than the Irish to paraphrase one observer of the time black families at least kept their homes clean to Americans not only were the Irish poor and criminal but worst of all they were Catholic in early 19th century America many considered Catholicism dangerous to the American experiment entirely foreign to people whose leader of their church lived in their same town the idea that these immigrants followed a church thousands of miles away and Italy was entirely alien it was anti-american and horrific conspiracies became quite popular about how the Irish would bring down the American Way of life the Pope and his bishops were preparing to invade the United States and form a new Vatican in Cincinnati now this wasn't of you everybody had but it was prominent enough to be noteworthy if the Irishman was stereotyped as the violent savage Catholic that he was that how did the Irish ever get rid of that perception of them in the United States first was the civil war when the war began thousands of Irishmen took up the Union cause against the rebels the northerners the hatred of the rebels and fighting alongside the Irish stripped away the perception that these people were somehow an American after the war anti-irish sentiment still existed in many places but not to the extent it was before the war the stereotype still persisted in the American mind of the Irishmen as an irresponsible sinful people so there became a collective effort by Irish American leaders even prominent bishops to change the stereotype of the Irish as a drunkard to a responsible pious American the Irish themselves began to change their image arguing that Catholicism was not anti-american but was just as moral as Protestantism Catholic schools taught basic morals while still being American law anti-catholic forces like the KKK were at their height by the turn in the 20th century this was only the last vestige before Catholicism was never really seen as anti-american again Irish American leaders began influencing elections of leaders in major cities because of their Union connections due to decades of working in blue-collar jobs the Irish were able to vote in Irish friendly politicians those politicians recruited new policemen many of which were prominently Irish this began the stereotype of the Irish cop while still a stereotype it was one for the better in a few decades the Irish went from criminal drunkards to being slowly perceived as law-abiding proud Americans and by being law-abiding proud Americans in many ways that meant going against the next perceived foreigner to really ramp this up the best way that the Irish eventually fit into the idea as a part of America was that another immigrant group simply took its place at the bottom of the totem pole so today the plight of the Irishmen in America is really just a distant memory in a century and a half a stereotype about a people who would bring about the death of the country now became a light-hearted celebration we're all Americans pretend that they're not American this is Kody of Nell Chubb hey everybody thanks for watching here's a quick channel update since I've always been busy with the other channel my brother Tyler was brought on to work on knowledge hub way back in the very beginning of the channel to write scripts and I would narrate them so he's been with the channels since there ever was a knowledge hub maybe your favorite video was written by him I'm just saying this to clear up any confusion if you think he was just a recent addition to the channel which he's not as for everything else I'm getting back to writing and voicing some videos on this channel while he does the art and editing for knowledge hub so while the last few months of the style the channel has changed a lot we're hoping this style is one that many can enjoy as it's something new and old well that's all for now this is Kody of knowledge hub [Music]

Channel: KnowledgeHusk

Views: 1,555,855

Keywords: Irish, Irish racism, hatred towards the irish, AlternateHistoryHub, KnowledgeHub, Irish history, american bigotry, american anti-irish, celtic, Why did america hate the irish, why were the irish once hated, why was there racism against irish people, anti-irish views, anti-irish bigotry, american racism history, racism towards whites, history

Id: lvtKolUaMO4

Length: 10min 20sec (620 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 09 2017