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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Borourke (talk | contribs) at 00:30, 27 December 2006 (Added in comment on racist aspect of anti-Irish sentiment a link to a site about Anti-Racism in Victorian Britain). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article does not cite any sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Anti-Irish sentiment" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2006) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Template:Linkless Anti-Irishism refers to persecution, discrimination, hatred or fear of the Irish people, whether against Ireland in general or against those Irish in the diaspora. Many people are against the Irish for the stereotype that it is common for Irish to over-drink, theft of jobs (usually low paid), Cronyism, Catholicism or the mythology of Ireland.

Anti-Irish feeling was part of racism in Victorian Britain

American Nativist prejudice against Irish Catholics reached a peak in the mid-1850s with the Know Nothing Movement, which tried to oust Catholics from public office. Much of the opposition came from Irish Protestants, as in the 1831 riots in Philadelphia. In rural areas riots broke out in the 1830s among rival labor teams from different parts of Ireland, and between Irish and native American work teams competing for construction jobs.

It was common for Irishmen to be discriminated against in the social situations and intermarriage between Catholics and Protestants was uncommon (and strongly discouraged by both ministers and priests). An important response was the creation of a parochial school system, in addition to numerous colleges, that isolated about half the Irish youth from the public schools. After 1860 Irish sang songs (see illustration) about signs reading "HELP WANTED - NO IRISH NEED APPLY", which were also referred to as "the NINA signs." The songs had a deep impact on the Irish sense of discrimination.

1862 song that created the "No Irish Need Apply" slogan; it was copied from a similar London song.The issue of job discrimination against Irish immigrants is a hotly debated among historians, with some insisting that the "No Irish need apply" signs so familiar to the Irish in memory were myths,, and others arguing that the Irish continued to be discriminated against in various professions into the 20th century. Whether the signs actually existed in large number, many New Yorkers harbored nativist sentiment against the Catholic Irish poor in the post-Civil war period. Irish-Americans were effectively barred from certain occupations. While the Irish dominated such occupations as domestic service, building, and factory work, they were not present in large numbers in the professions, finance, and many businesses. In response, the Irish clung to their occupational niches fiercely, blocking attempts by newer immigrant groups and African Americans to enter them, and earning them a reputation for violence. Since many of the earliest late 19th century immigrant population was Irish, they received the first attacks and discrimination by nativists and Protestants.

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