Coming from an Irish background, it was really interesting for me to read the chapter Emigrants From Erin. It was startling to read about the struggles Irish immigrants had to go through even before they came to America. I couldn’t imagine having the only form of substance and income, vanish before my eyes. “By 1855, some one million people had died from hunger and sickness.” What was even more astounding to me was that half the people of Ireland could have been fed by English exports. The English had the ability to help the Irish and did nothing to do so. The treatment of Irishmen by the English was so cruel, but what was even more surprising to me was how the Irish immigrants could treat African Americans with the same cruelty. On page 150 this mistreatment is explained clearly, “Frederick Douglass criticized the Irish immigrants for abandoning the idea of ‘liberty’ they returned in their homeland by becoming ‘the oppressors of another race’ in America”. It amazes me that Irish immigrants could mistreat African Americans after experiencing unfair treatment first hand. Blacks couldn’t understand the Irish immigrants hostility, “They resented being told by immigrants to leave the country of their birth and ‘go back’ to Africa, a place they had never seen”.
It was also intriguing that the Irish would then aid in the expansion of America into Mexican land. I did some research and found that the PBS website had an abundance of information on the Mexican-American war. This war really reminds me of the struggles the Irish endured from the British, “Mexico struggled to maintain control over the vast expanses of land it had inherited from Spain following its long war for independence. Lacking the resources to settle much of its territory and suffering from deep internal political divisions, Mexico looked to the past for its sense of meaning, back to a time when ‘New Spain’ had once promised to be the continental power of the New World.” How could Irish immigrants experience a lifetime of mistreatment from the English and then treat others just as poorly? Were they threatened by the African Americans? Did they feel that they had to act tough in order to survive? How would I treat others if I felt I had to fight to for everything I had?
http://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/
I totally agree with you. I would have thought that since both the Irish and the Africans were both mistreated by the British that they would be understanding of each other. People who tend to experience similar events in life usually can relate with each other and bond. The British referred to the Irish as savages just like the Africans and saw them as beneath them. Even though the Irish were pale or "white" they still experienced mistreatment by the British. I'm sure some of the African Americans were seeing the similarites like Fredrick Douglass. I think that it could have actually been easy for the Irish to treat black people that way seeing how they don't know this group of people. I know for myself I will feel more remorse for someone I know closely vs someone I don't know. I don't think that they had to act tough in front of the Africans but maybe for the English.These are the same type of people they were trying to escape from so I would think there is some form of a guard up.And if i had to fight to keep whats dear to me for a good portion of my life, I would be a tough distant person as well.
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