Irish caricatures (anti-Irish sentiment)

[curupira]

How high was anti-Irish sentiment in both England and in the US?

Anti-Irish racism in Victorian Britain and 19th century United States included the stereotyping of the Irish as alcoholics, and implications that they monopolised certain (usually low-paying) job markets. They were often called “white Negroes." Throughout Britain and the U.S., newspaper illustrations and hand drawings depicted a prehistoric "ape-like image" of Irish faces to bolster evolutionary racist claims that the Irish people were an "inferior race" as compared to Anglo-Saxons.

Similar to other immigrant populations, they were sometimes accused of cronyism and subjected to misrepresentations of their religious and cultural beliefs. The Irish were labelled as practising Pagans and in that time (19th century), anyone not being a "Christian" in a traditional British sense was deemed "immoral" and "demonic". Irish Catholics were particularly singled out, and Irish mythology, folklore, and customs were ridiculed.

Nineteenth-century Protestant American "Nativist" prejudice against Irish Catholics reached a peak in the mid-1850s when the Know Nothing Movement tried to oust Catholics from public office. Much of the opposition came from Irish Protestants, as in the 1831 riots in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

During the 1830s, riots broke out in rural areas among rival labour teams from different parts of Ireland, and between Irish and "native" American work teams competing for construction jobs.

Irish Catholics were isolated and marginalised by society. Both ministers and priests discouraged intermarriage between Catholics and Protestants. In addition, the creation of a parochial school system and numerous colleges affiliated with the Church tended to compound rather than alleviate anti-Catholic discrimination.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Irish_sentiment






American political cartoon by Thomas Nast titled "The Usual Irish Way of Doing Things", depicting a drunken Irishman lighting a powder keg and swinging a bottle. Published 1871-09-02 in Harper's Weekly.


Police notice of Daniel Breen ("bronzed complexion", "cocked nose", "looks rather like a blacksmith coming from work", etc):

[StonyArabia]

Wow how disgusting. I usually never say racial slurs, and never is racist until I am pushed into it, when people try to demonize my ethnic group or region, and even then I feel somewhat shameful. It's true the Irish were made out to be fools and such quite sad.

[Graham]

The Irish weren't as intelligent, this was caused by Penal Laws enforced by Britain, on Irish Catholics.

Topic comes up a lot.

[appletree]

I'm an American who has Irish descent. Some of my ancestors came from Ireland during the Great Famine. The Irish have come along way since the 1800's. Irish-Americans are one of the most successful cultural groups, achieving renown in every profession.

[curupira]

A few more examples of Anglo anti-Irish sentiment:

Cartoon facing off “the British Lion” and “the Irish monkey”:



A depiction of an Irish riot (1867):

In this next cartoon by Thomas Nast, Irish and African Americans don't look too much alike, but they are the same in terms of their threat to the nation. The caption reads "the ignorant vote."

http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/omalley/120/alien/four.html

[1stLightHorse]

Ahh, the good ol' Irish Vanilla Gorillas.

[Daco Celtic]

The University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish mascot is a caricature most Irish Americans don't mind.