The Irish Image in Contemporary Society - Essay Example

In 19th century newspaper cartoons, however, those same qualities are portrayed as negative, as the irresponsible antics of a mentally inferior people. This is a stereotype that has managed to survive into modern politically correct society. Before emigrating to America during the Famine years of the mid 19th century, the Irish had long endured racial intolerance from the British. In a letter to his wife, Charles Kingsley wrote, ".I am haunted by the human chimpanzees I saw [in Ireland]. I don't believe they are our fault.

But to see white chimpanzees is dreadful; if they were black, one would not feel it so much," (Curtis, 1968). Phrenology, the study of cranial shapes and characteristics, became highly popular between 1800 and 1850 (Wohl, 1990), and asserted that the Irish skull shape was not that of a human being's, but closer to that of an ape's. The Irish were "primitive." John Beddoe, president of the Anthropological Institute from 1889 to 1891, wrote in his book The Races of Britain (1862), that all intelligent men were orthognathous, meaning they had smaller jaw bones, while the Irish were prognathous (more prominent jaw bones) and were thus more akin to Cromagnon man (Wohl, 1990).

Punch cartoons of the Irish reflect this belief, depicting them with long, drooping upper-lips and apelike features. The circumstances that the Irish went on to face would often be linked with this belief. In the 1840s, a fungus infected the crops of Ireland and an estimated one-fourth of the population died of starvation (The History Place, 2000). Reports were made of finding bodies lying in the road with green foam oozing from the mouth because the deceased had been eating grass to stave off hunger (The History Place, 2000).

Thus, in 1847, the United States saw the largest mass immigration in history. Boston, which had a population of 115,000, was suddenly inundated with 37,000 Irish immigrants (The History Place, 2000). New York City, which had a population of 372,000, saw 52,000 Irish in 1847 (The History Place, 2000). In Boston, the Irish were greeted with scorn by the English Puritans, who saw their rural manners and poverty as boorish. Of all of the foreign immigrant groups, the Irish were the poorest (The History Place, 2000).

As soon as they stepped off the boat, they were herded into large houses that had been subdivided into apartments, often with no water or ventilation (The History Place, 2000). There were so many Irish arriving, however, that many actually slept in the gardens, backyards, and alleys surrounding the house (The History Place, 2000). A Boston Committee of Internal Health reported these houses as: "a perfect hive of human beings, without comforts and without common necessaries; in many cases, huddled together like brutes, without regard to age or sex or sense of decency.

Under such circumstances, self-respect, forethought, and all the high and noble virtues soon die out, and sullen indifference and despair or disorder, intemperance and utter degradation reign supreme," (The History Place, 2000).That could be why the city's crime rate increased by a breathtaking 400 percent (The History Place, 2000). The Irish gained such a notorious reputation for rowdiness and violence that many