Eth125 Ethnic Groups and Discrimination

Ethnic Groups and Discrimination

Jamee Conour

ETH/125

01/22/2012

Ethnic Groups and Discrimination

The ethnic group that I was able to identify with the most would have to be the Irish. I am what you may call a Heinz 57 mixture. I belong to quite a few of the different ethnic groups such as Irish, Danish, English, and Castilian Spanish, but the one that is the most would be the Irish. The reason that I chose the Irish to write about is because I am more Irish than anything else and I think that their whole culture as well as the country region is very fascinating. Between the years of 1820and 1860 Irish immigrants started to migrate west to the United States due to the hardships that they were facing in Ireland. The population in Ireland was very large and was poverty stricken due to the Napoleanic Wars. Most of the people there had no choice but to leave Ireland and migrate to the United States if they wanted to get away from the church, the political subordination, and famine that was over running the country.

The Irish immigrants faced a lot of prejudice once they came to The United States of America. They also faced many different forms of discrimination dual labor market because the Irish were the poorest of all of the people that had migrated to America they were forced to take the lowest paying jobs that there were and they were worked to the bone leaving the higher paying and easier jobs to the natural born American citizens. There were even times when there were signs clearly posted stating Irish need not apply. There were also certain neighborhoods where there were mortgage restrictions and restricted residential neighborhoods where they were not permitted to live in which would be a sign that redlining did exist towards the Irish back then. Many and most all Irish immigrants lived in the slums and were considered lower class and were not permitted to move up in class or neighborhoods. Institutional discrimination was a factor due to Xenophobia...