‘Whiteness’ or being considered white is more than simply the color of your skin, but your social status and sense of superiority and power. When the Irish first came to America, they were a small minority and did not mesh well with Americans. During the famine, they gained numbers and soon realized that they could have an impact on American politics and could improve their social economic status. Socially they were viewed as just above free black folk. The Irish were poor, not catholic, some couldn’t speak English, and were a majority of the workforce for unskilled labor jobs. In Ireland, many men were farmers and women helped on the farm and household. Being a farmer in Ireland was family work, land was usually passed down and could be bought …show more content…
Their ideas and concerns on slavery were voiced by a man named Daniel O’Connell. O’Connell was a respected man of his time and was the most famous Irish abolitionist to date. Even while he was in Europe, O’Connell was requested to give his ideas, viewpoints, and help with the abolitionist movement in America. He was so against slavery that he never set foot on American soil or accepted American money that was presented to him. While O’Connell and most Irish people in Ireland were against slavery, the Irish population in America became pro-slavery. To understand why the Irish became pro-slavery, one must understand their working conditions and who paid them. As stated above, they were much of the unskilled labor force when it came to physical labor that most people would not want to do. These jobs paid very little and the men that paid the workers, their boss or the owner of the company, were generally rich, white Republicans. Once the Irish realized they could influence the politics, they sided against the Republicans and voted for Democrats; and the official stance of the Democratic party was pro-slavery. Simultaneously, this kept the job competition between slaves and Irish down since the slaves were restricted from finding a job and socially it kept the Irish above the blacks and allowed them to collaborate and work with white …show more content…
In just over half a century, New York City’s population increased from 50,000 to nearly 800,000 inhabitants, with most of the increase from immigration to New York City. The spark of the riots was the Conscription Act, which called for 200,000 more men to be drafted for the war, but there was a buyout of $300. This was viewed as unconstitutional and favored the rich, who in this case were generally white Republicans. The first event was an attack on the scene of the first draft but then mob mentality got the best of the city and it transformed into a 4-day endeavor. Over the next few days, the mob targeted the NYC draft office, rich white Republicans’ homes, orphanages that were funded by rich white Republicans, a gun factory for supplies, and literally any black person they ran into. It was only after the leader of New York City’s Catholic citizens Archbishop John Hughes, an Irishman himself, was asked to try and stop the riots did they cease the next day. He invited anyone to come to his house and peacefully listen to what he had to say. After thousands of citizens showed up to his house, he expressed the Catholic virtues and how change was available through the government and not violence. After the 4 days, the riots were responsible for 100 deaths and 1.5 million dollars’ worth of
Consolidated with authentic research, Twilight provides an important examination of the hidden reasons for the Los Angeles riots. A more drawn out chronicled see additionally uncovers the bigger class strains and the gigantic change of ethnic structure of Los Angeles from 1970 to 1990 that added to the atmosphere that could deliver such a huge scale riot.
Firstly, I identified myself as white. Being white in today’s society means you are automatically given privilege the second that you are born. Skin color is something that you carry with you your whole life. It cannot be changed and it will most likely be used against you or in your benefit at some point in your life. In America being white means that you are on the top of the social hierarchy, and that you are given the
As it was stated in the book, many factors led up to the race riots of 1919. The single incident was a highpoint. It more or less triggered all of the actions and feelings that were preceded in the years leading up to the riot. It is amazing how the differences of a race can change in a few years. Also the importance of little factors that can lead up to becoming huge and having great implications on actions. For blacks and whites both the riot was just a built up accumulation of hostility that has been going on for quite some time. One thing can be said though that the Chicago incidents seem to be the more ruthless and aggressive when compared to others. It may have been because of the blacks’ resiliency not to lie down and to fight back. A lot of the time it causes even more hostility to brew when compared to a nonviolent approach. Nevertheless, the Chicago riots and the incidents that led up to it were monumental in status.
In the early 1900’s there was a dramatic increase in the number of immigrants coming to the eastern shores of America. Many were pulled to America because of its economic opportunity, freedom, need for labor and its beautiful country. Immigrants were excited to come to America and were pushed from their home countries because of food shortages, overpopulation, war and political instability. This was going on in an important era in American history called the “gilded age”. It was a time of economic growth, and industrialization but also had high percentages of poverty mainly in urban environments. The majority of the immigrants intended to advance out west but actually settled in the eastern cities. In the book The Jungle, Jargis and his family moved to the Americas and hoped to live the “American Dream” but it was the exact opposite when they arrived. Jurgis, his wife Ona, and the rest of the Lithuanian family struggled with working conditions, living conditions, health problems, and maintaining a stable workplace. They were all dealt with disgusting conditions in the boarding houses and a brutal working environment in Packingtown. In 1905, when the book was written, there were very little government regulations, especially in the meat packing industry, which led to unsafe working conditions and sanitation issues.
The Chicago riot was the most serious of the multiple that happened during the Progressive Era. The riot started on July 27th after a seventeen year old African American, Eugene Williams, did not know what he was doing and obliviously crossed the boundary of a city beach. Consequently, a white man on the beach began stoning him. Williams, exhausted, could not get himself out of the water and eventually drowned. The police officer at the scene refused to listen to eyewitness accounts and restrained from arresting the white man. With this in mind, African Americans attacked the police officer. As word spread of the violence, and the accounts distorted themselves, almost all areas in the city, black and white neighborhoods, became informed. By Monday morning, everyone went to work and went about their business as usual, but on their way home, African Americans were pulled from trolleys and beaten, stabbed, and shot by white “ruffians”. Whites raided the black neighborhoods and shot people from their cars randomly, as well as threw rocks at their windows. In retaliation, African Americans mounted sniper ambushes and physically fought back. Despite the call to the Illinois militia to help the Chicago police on the fourth day, the rioting did not subside until the sixth day. Even then, thirty eight
Shoemaker, A., James, C., King, L., Hardin, E., Ordog G. (1993, Dec 15) Urban violence in Los Angeles in the aftermath of the riots: a perspective from health care professionals, with implications for social reconstruction. JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2833, v270 n23
McGruder, Kevin. “Black New York and the Draft Riots.” The New York Times Opinion Page. Accessed November 11, 2013. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/26/black-new-york-and-the-draft-riots/?_r=1
Founded by the Puritans in the late 1600's, Boston and its people were not completely open to immigrants, at first, which seemed odd, considering they were once immigrants. Before the American Revolution, the majority of the predominately Protestant citizens of Boston were "fairly inhospitable to persons of any different religious persuasion…especially the Irish who were regarded by most Anglo-Saxons as members of an inferior race…" Because of these sentiments, many of the first immigrants from Ireland settled in the less populated areas of New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont. With one glance at the names of the towns they settled -- Dublin, Belfast and Limerick, to name a few -- you would think of their Irish counterparts in Ireland.
In order to legitimise a regime or cause, traditions may be constructed around historical or mythological events, people or symbols that reinforce the image required to focus people’s conception of the past. People can be encouraged to invent a cohesive view of their shared ‘traditions’ by what could be called cherry picking bits of history.
In the article, “‘Violence’ in Cincinnati,” Thomas A. Dutton brings up a conversation about the urban area of Over-The-Rhine. He speaks out about how this downtown area has extremely too much violence and there needs to be something done about it. He speaks to the age group of twenty-five and up and to all citizens of Cincinnati. This article was published in 2001 in “Nation” magazine. At this time in Cincinnati, there were many disputes about race. A white officer shot an unarmed black man in April in 2001 that had many offenses against him at the time and was killed shortly after. Riots broke out and curfews were set in to place. This is a major event that happened in Cincinnati’s history and still today has hurt the citizens and the Over-The-Rhine district. Violence has been fought against people of color for a very long time and it affects the people and various cities around us.
INTRODUCTION The history of Ireland "that most distressful nation" is full of drama and tragedy, but one of the most interesting stories is about what happened to the Irish during the mid-nineteenth century and how millions of Irish came to live in America (Purcell 31). Although the high point of the story was the years of the devastating potato famine from 1845 to 1848, historians have pointed out that immigrating from Ireland was becoming more popular before the famine and continued until the turn of the twentieth century. In the one hundred years between the first recording of immigrants in
Irish immigrants influenced American history and culture in many ways. For example, many Americans celebrate St. Patrick’s Day because of the Irish population in America. Many famous Irish represented America worldwide such as President Kennedy. However, for all of the successes to occur, many immigrants struggled to establish the position and respect that Irish maintain in society today. From struggles in the coffin ships to the racial embarrassment faced with discrimination, our history is a reflection of the decisions made in the last century by the Irish immigrants in the
This delayed them from becoming American citizens as they had to finish their debt first. Even so, through the Naturalization Law of 1790 they were able to gain citizenship. This law stated that “Any alien, being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, may be admitted to become a citizen” (1790 Naturalization act). This differs from the Chinese as the Chinese were blocked in every way possible to gain their American citizenship. Both immigrants arrived the same time and worked in similar jobs. They equally worked as hard when contributing to America, such as the building of the transcontinental railroad, but the Irish were given the first privilege because they were white. Having Takaki share this again shows how the Master Narrative does not provide the meaning of an American as being white should not be the main reason. The Irish were chosen because, as Toni Morrison observed, the Master Narrative states that “‘American’ has been defined as ‘white’” and “Not to be ‘white’ is to be designated as the ‘Other’- different, inferior, and unassimilable” (Takaki, 4). Therefore, the Chinese were seen un-American because they were different. This then caused the white Europeans to believe that they are unworthy to be involved in America’s history when it comes to the Master Narrative. Now this country consists of different races that have done a lot to build up what America is today. These minorities are Americans, like the Chinese, but the Master Narrative was not able to see that these
White Americans or being seen as White in general is not only a racial identity, but also is associated with a certain privilege. As mentioned previously, whites certainly hold a position of power in the social world. Whites work in positions of privilege and power, and therefore are seen or visible in society. While, people of colour are invisible and with that invisibility privilege and power is lost along the way. Richard Dyer believes that white people create dominant image of the world, and construct the world in their own image. He then goes on to says that White power nonetheless reproduces itself because it is not seen as Whiteness, but as normal (Seidman, 2013, 237). It is obvious throughout history that white rules and interests rise above the interests of any other racial group, and being able to associate yourself with the title of being white automatically brings a sense of privilege or some sort of benefit to ones life. The idea of Whites having higher privilege than any other race is seen not only throughout time, but also through most if not all race theorists.
A part of history people don’t know about is the time of the Tulsa race riots, which was one of the bloodiest riots in the country’s history. An estimated 3,000 people died during the incident (Burger 14). But for many years Tulsa’s power structure both blacks and whites, chose to ignore the infamous event that left thousands dead or injured, other fought to lift the shroud on the truth of the 1921 riot (Burger 14).At the time Tulsa was a deeply troubled town, the city had been plagued by vigilantism and crime rates were very high, including the lynching by a white mob in 1920 (Ellsworth).