19th Century Irish and Africans Migration

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Main text
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

Migration is a powerful tool of human mobility that intermingles cultures throughout the globe. Many reasons initiate migration: seeking for a better life, political or cultural suppressions, and so on. A flow of immigrants that engulfed America in the 19th century was a direct result of the transformation of Europe and its striving to turn into a dominant player in the world arena. Thus, migration does not only aim at the improvement of emigrants’ lives, sometimes such mobility processes are rather meant to enrich the countries that are abandoned by emigrants. According to Roger Daniels, “faith and empire were prime forces in the process of European migration overseas, but so too was the desire of economic gain” (5). The case applies to the conditions that Great Britain created for Irish people in the 19th century. During the 1840s, the Great Famine forced the Irish to leave their native lands, where they became victimized. Therefore, several Irishmen flee to the USA.

Main text

The reality that the Irish met in America was not pleasurable for them though. The fact that they were called “white negroes” in their native country did not change in the US, where they were forced to struggle against Afro-Americans for opportunities to live and work.

In the USA, the Irish were stereotyped as lazy drunks. The American theatre started depicting the Irish characters as a congregation of wild apes (Daniels par. 4).

The immigrants from Britain were associated with Afro-Americans since white Americans were treating both communities as “lowly ranks”. Both groups, thus, could not be treated respectfully.

Common disgrace, however, never united two minorities together. They became the enemy communities, while they were forced to fight for jobs, places of residence, and elementary human rights against each other. The tendency started with the Irish voting against the Abolitionist act in 1843 that was meant to stop slavery in the USA. The fact that the Irish immigrants did not want to support Kennedy in his striving to stop the oppression of Afro-Americans, made the president grievous. In his speech on abolition, he expressed his concerns and sorrow for the Irish who did not manage to learn from their sad experiences in Great Britain and forced their Afro-American counterparts to continue suffering (McKenna par. 10).

Conclusion

Therefore, the major difference between the minorities of Irishmen and Afro-Americans in the USA consisted in their attitudes towards their places in America. While colored people viewed the US as an enslaver tormenting their community, the Irish thought of America as a shelter, a land where they might gain new opportunities for life. Finally, the target of the Irish immigrants was reached – they became highly assimilated into American society until the end of the 20th century and created a powerful influence upon the US culture and politics. At the same time, the development of Afro-Americans’ rights in America was delayed for a century. Thus, the outcome of the common struggle of two lowly minorities was prompted by their own choices: the Irish chose to become Americans while Afro-Americans chose in favor of their national identity.

Works Cited

Daniels, Jessie. Irish-Americans, Racism and the Pursuit of Whiteness. 2009. Web.

Daniels, Roger. Coming to America: A History of Immigration and Ethnicity in American Life, NY: Harper Collins Publishers, 2002. Print.

McKenna, Patrick. When the Irish Became White: Immigrants in mid-19^th Century US. 2013. Web.

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19th Century Irish and Africans Migration

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