How the Irish became white / Noel Ignatiev.

Includes a list of illustrations.

This resource features cartoons and illustrations from the early to mid 1800s. These depict dated, racist caricatures, expressions, and attitudes towards people of color and Irish immigrants in relation to slave owners versus Irish immigrants' solidarity with newly enfranchised slaves. These illustrations portray negative attitudes toward abolitionism and the potential of a majority black workforce, an Irish immigrant's desire to be perceived as "naturalized", and depictions of race riots in the mid-1800s.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-228) and index.

I. Something in the air -- II. White negroes and smoked Irish -- III. The transubstantiation of an Irish revolutionary -- IV. They swung their picks -- V. The tumultuous republic -- VI. From Protestant ascendancy to white republic.

"Focusing on how the Irish were assimilated as "whites" in America, Noel Ignatiev uncovers the roots of conflict between Irish-Americans and African-Americans and draws a powerful connection between the embracing of white supremacy and Irish "success" in 19th-century American society. Ignatiev traces the tattered history of Irish and African-American relations, revealing how the Irish used labor unions, the Catholic Church and the Democratic party to help and secure their newly found place in the White Republic. Ignatiev explores and challenges the Irish tradition of labor protest and the Irish role in the wave of anti-Negro violence that swept the country in the 1830s and 1840s. In addition, How the Irish Became White provides a provocative recounting of the roles of northeastern urban politicians in the Irish triumph over nativism, which allowed for the Irish entry into the 'white race.' " -- From the back cover.

"The Irish came to America in the eighteenth century, fleeing a homeland under foreign occupation and a caste system that regarded them as the lowest form of humanity. In the new country – a land of opportunity – they found a very different form of social hierarchy, one that was based on the color of a person’s skin. Noel Ignatiev’s 1995 book – the first published work of one of America’s leading and most controversial historians – tells the story of how the oppressed became the oppressors; how the new Irish immigrants achieved acceptance among an initially hostile population only by proving that they could be more brutal in their oppression of African Americans than the nativists. This is the story of How the Irish Became White." -- From online.

Content warning for dated and racially discriminatory terminology, racial stereotypes, and racist depictions in illustrations.