{"id":2466,"date":"2019-03-17T10:29:26","date_gmt":"2019-03-17T15:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=2466"},"modified":"2019-03-17T10:29:26","modified_gmt":"2019-03-17T15:29:26","slug":"the-luck-of-the-irish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2019\/03\/17\/the-luck-of-the-irish\/","title":{"rendered":"The Luck of the Irish"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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Photo of the Irish Immigrant Memorial in Pennsylvania by Kevin Burkett, Flickr CC<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Happy St. Patrick\u2019s Day! As you top one off down at the pub, here\u2019s a round on the house about how the Irish became white in the United States. <\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Irish presence in America greatly expanded following increased emigration in the mid-to-late 19th century. The journey from Ireland was arduous and dangerous, but their welcome on arrival was worse. Various political and social organizations espoused prejudiced, bigoted views towards Irish immigrants their families; frequent metaphors included comparing the Irish to animals or vermin. Scholars have described how Irish groups in America resisted hatred and discrimination and took steps to combat discrimination both in the job market and everyday culture. As the sources below describe, the Irish actively overcame and struggled against oppression, and civil society organizations and community engagement helped the Irish to eventually be seen as part of the racial category \u201cWhite\u201d in America.<\/h5>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n