Irish Discrimination In America

Nativism is described as “the political idea that people who were born in a country are more important than immigrants”( "Nativism Definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary"). Nativism was most seen during the 1870’s through the 1920’s. Nativism was a major cause in middle-class disputes since middle-class workers feared that the immigrant workers would drop wage prices and that they “...threatened social stability”(The Many Faces of Immigration). Many Catholic immigrants were blamed for the overflow of immigrants in the poverty sections of cities. This was not the only case of discrimination against religious affiliations in immigrants. Many groups sprung up that targeted select groups of immigrants like anti-Catholicism, anti-Irish,

As illustrated in Joseph Keppler’s political cartoon, ‘Looking Backward,’ published in P.U.C.K. magazine in January 11, 1893. The cartoon depicts four wealthy men denying entry to a newly arrived immigrant. In addition to this, shadows of ancestral immigrants appear behind the four men as each are native-born but are, themselves, descendants of former immigrants. This one political cartoon adds commentary on the hypocrisy of second-generation Americans and paradox that is found when examining the patterns of immigration to America since the first wave of immigrants arrived. The Irish who arrived during the post-famine period (1855-1921), were no different than any other ethnic group coming to America in the way that they were treated once they arrived. Although the Irish were among many other European groups to arrive to America, they were viewed as ‘atypical,’ (Kenny,

Living in the 1920s was a struggled with attitudes of racism and discrimination towards immigrants whom people blamed for many social and economic problems. Both in modern times and in the 1920’s there was a lot of discrimination against immigrants entering the United State.

Between 1870 and 1900, an estimated 25 million immigrants had made their way to the United States. This era, titled the Gilded Age, played an extremely important role in the shaping of American society. The United States saw great economic growth and social changes; however, as the name suggested, the Gilded Ages hid a profound number of problems. During this period of urbanization, the publicizing of wealth and prosperity hid the high rates of poverty, crime, and corruption. European immigrants who had come to the United States in search of jobs and new opportunities had fallen into poverty as well as poor working and living conditions. Not only had immigrants been cheated of a promised "comfortable" lifestyle, but the U.S. had also negatively

The US experienced massive immigration from Europe in the 1800s, which saw millions of people across the Atlantic to the New World. These people came from all corners of Europe including Ireland, Germany, Italy, Norway, and other scores of other nations and provinces. The people came as young men and women in search of jobs, others as families fleeing religious persecution and others as political radicals who were fleeing from the police. In addition, others came as farmers in search of land and a new start for that matter, and as paupers hardly capable of affording the rites of passage. This was the first wave of immigrants that shaped the US in considerable ways.

As the Great War raged on, people began fleeing their war torn homelands. Immigrants flooded into the United States at a breakneck pace. The way of life for all civilians was dramatically altered as their husbands and baby boys were shipped overseas to fight. Immigrants that were thrown into the fray of the developing United States faced the most drastic change to their lives during World War I.

In ?Unbroken,? Louis Zamperini, a delinquent runner, has to use his faith and free will to get through his hardships in life, particularly when he faces the Japanese concentration camps. Driven to the limits of endurance, Louis looks upon his hopes and dreams whilst he gets stuck with two other soldiers in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. He faces the brutality of the camps, the hardships of immigration, agonizing suffering and his faith/free will tempting him. Louis? character starts to evolve as he enters the war and finally sees the chaos and viciousness that is enthralled into the war itself.

Both during and after moving to a new country, immigrants face many hardships. The process of obtaining citizenships is difficult in itself, but even when citizenship is earned there are still challenges. One major difficulty some immigrants may face is dealing with xenophobia. Immigrants who experience xenophobic prejudice can find adjustment to a new life very difficult. In contrast, those who are treated with kindness and as equal citizens find assimilating to a new culture easier. The way immigrants are treated in America impacts their success as citizen. In addition, one of the ways a former immigrant might feel like they have become a “fully-fledged citizen” is when they feel as though they belong and are integrated into the country they’ve come to.

Cities improve due to innovation, but humans residing in them may not. The Industrial Revolution was a period in time where new inventions helped labor become less taxing and more efficient in the South. On the other hand, the North developed urban cities, which attracted many people. Urban cities had become the epitome of civilization: ease of life and wealth was present, but not available to everyone. To elaborate, these urban cities provided job opportunities to women. Nevertheless, the poor lived in terrible conditions, child labor was common, conflicts arose between immigrants and American citizens, and the government approved of rich people’s selfishness.

The mid-19th century saw an unprecedented wave of immigrants coming into the country. At its peak, Ellis Island, the main processing station for immigrants, handled an astounding 5,000 people every day. Because of the language and culture barriers faced by each group of people, they often settled amongst themselves. Very quickly, country-specific neighborhoods began popping up throughout New York and the surrounding area. This helped to alleviate the stresses with moving to a new country; however, most immigrants came to the United States penniless and lived in low-income housing as their jobs rarely supported themselves let alone their families. Most of these jobs were labor-intensive, and oftentimes, very dangerous. “These urban immigrants

Before the outbreak of the dread Irish Potato Famine, the people of Ireland had been a relatively small demographic in America. The immigration of Irish males had increased in the 1820 's, due to an abundance of jobs created by the building of the Erie Canal and other canal, road, or railroad projects, but when the famine struck, entire families flocked in droves to the United States. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free," they heard our country call, and they came by the thousands, hoping to find, if nothing else, a decent existence.

From 1880 to 1925, an era deemed New immigration, vast numbers of foreigners sought better lives as Americans. However, rather than a welcoming embrace, the expanding populations of immigrants were confronted with growing disdain of immigration. Many Americans assumed immigrants came to America as the poorest and most vagrant people of their country. Thus, many worried that immigrants would pollute America’s genetic stock and become financial burdens to the country. In response to growing anti-immigrant sentiment, Nativists demanded that America belong to “natives” and advocated restrictions on immigration to keep jobs for real Americans. And rather than protect immigrants from heavy discrimination, the American government responded by limiting

After WWI, there were large numbers of people seeking entry into the United States. During WWI the Russian Revolution occurred, and communism became an important part of politics. Some immigrants from Europe believed in socialism and anarchy. These ideas threatened U.S. capitalism and beliefs about American freedom. Americans reacted in different ways to the events by expressing anti-immigrant nativism, a fear of communism and patriotism to attack these fears.

The documentary Il Sangue Verde, meaning “green blood”, follows men whom immigrated to southern Italy in search of jobs. The documentary highlights the daily struggles immigrants face after arriving to southern Italy. In southern Italy, immigrants are not usually welcomed by the natives thus they face difficulties such as their living conditions, work environment, and overall treatment. Il Sangue Verde provides a nonbiased overview of the immigrant daily lives through interviews with both immigrants in the South and former mayor, whom present the history of immigration in the South.

The Irish immigrants were a large percentage of London in the nineteenth century and the greatest flow of their migration came in the early to mid-nineteenth century. This was due to the agricultural problems, the increase of demand for Irish labor in the Industrial revolution, and the bad conditions in Ireland due to the Great Famine (Clive). London was the largest city in the world and the Irish made up the largest immigrant group during this time. In 1841, the first census to record those living in the city was taken and 4% of the population was the Irish. They grew again in 1851 due to the Great Famine. Although the Irish colonized in many parts of the city, the first and largest Irish colony in London was St. Giles, modern day Holborn