Assignment #9
The first major wave of immigrants to arrive in teh new nation of the United States was the Irish, who were fleeing the potato famine. Their poverty and Catholic religion caused many Americans see them as shiftless and a bad influence on American culture. Describe the process by which the Irish eventually became part of the American mainstream.
Kitty Lui
Many of the Irish that came to the US because of the potato famine were unskilled laborers. They usually worked in the lower tiers of the working class and the women worked in household domestics. However, with their second generation they were able to move up a bit, working in skilled trades, which required them to have certain skills to work those jobs. They tended to have a higher standard of living and be in the lower tier of the middle class. With more success as the generations passed, more Irish attended school, which allowed them to get jobs with higher skill sets. There was a growing amount of them employed in manual labor, service men, and office jobs. With more of them entering the middle class, more of them got higher education. Also, it was helpful that many of them spoke English upon arriving in the US.
Nancy Lu
The Irish immigrants that first came to the United States were unskilled laborers due to the potato famine. For their first generation, Irish immigrants had a more difficult time excelling because they were at a much lower tier. The Irish also favored Catholic beliefs, therefore there was a conflict as well. They often had to compete against African-Americans and continued to live in poverty.
However, the Irish immigrants soon found a way to assimilate to the United States. When public schools became less strict in regards to religion, that is when they were becoming more mainstream. They were able to enroll their children into public schools and continued to improve dramatically. The second generation for Irish immigrants advanced heavily. Irish families were able to achieve middle socioeconomic status and became equivalent to the general American population.
Omar Sarreal
When the Irish first immigrated to the United States, they were not well liked. They competed with the African Americans for jobs. The Irish were not well liked because they lived in poor conditions and were willing to do the same amount of work for less salary. Secondly, the Irish were predominantly Catholic. This caused tension with the protestants living in New York and Boston. This animosity towards the Irish caused them to become the lowest tier of society. Many Irish children did not even go to school. Although the Irish went through adversity the second generation of Irish gained valuable skills that would help them earn jobs in the future such as bricklaying, and carpentry. Because of this the Irish could finally afford a higher standard of living and send their children to school.
Aliyah Deiz
At first when the Irish arrived to America, they were bombarded with many persecutions. Because they came to America to flee the hardships in Ireland, they came here with little-to-no money in their pockets. That gave them a huge disadvantage because they were forced to live in poor conditions which caused them to be ostracized by the society at that time. Another factor was their religious difference between Americans. Irish were of the Catholic religion, while Christianity was most prevalent in the United States.
Irish became mainstream when public schools became less about religion and more about race. It sounds ironic, but it’s what happened. After public schools gravitated away from religious differences they focused on the phenotype of the school children. Schools became black and white. This unified all phenotype that were white, and glorified them putting them in prestigious schools. While black children were segregated and put into schools that were in poor conditions.
Angel Moreno
At first when the Irish immigrated to the United States, they commenced living in the eastern coastal cities such as New York and Boston. They were characterized as having few marketable skills and little cultural capital to help secure foothold. As a result, a large portion of the Irish was unemployed, whereas others worked as unskilled laborers, living in abject poverty, fueling stereotypes of shiftlessness and irresponsibility. They occupied the lowest tiers of the working class, often competing with African Americans for the last few jobs available. This competition with African Americans for jobs created social tension between them. As for Irish women, they worked as household domestics, cleaning urban homes. Bishop Hughes also stated than Irish children were less likely than others to attend school because they had to work in order to support their families. Another cruel situation about the Irish was that they had a high probability of landing in city jails. As time passed, the status of the Irish improved dramatically, but they had to devote a lot of time to hard work. The children were often able to find opportunities for advancement. The second generation moved into skilled trades, becoming bricklayers and carpenters, plumbers and masons. As a result, they were able to afford a better standard of living. Finally, the success of the Irish led to better school attendance.
SUMMARY
We can conclude that the Irish immigrants did have a difficult time since they were disliked for their Catholic values. Irish immigrants became a huge part of the American mainstream which allowed them to get more jobs. Immigrants that were darker had a more difficult time fitting in. When the Irish immigrants moved to the west, it was more beneficial because there were much more opportunities in the West.