Takaki Chapter 6 (Emigrants from Erin)

Chapter 6 of Takaki discusses the immigration of the Irish to America. During the beginning of their emigration, the Irish believed they were being driven from their homeland by “English tyranny.” One Irish migrant thought of the movement to America as “artificial.” English colonizers forced the Irish to become Christian and they grew to practice the religion and prefer it over others. Some of the living conditions in Ireland were very poor. One family was assigned to a cabin that did not include anything for a family to live reasonably. The Irish believed that instead of living in Ireland and “starve like slaves,” they could immigrate to “the Land of Promise.” They believed that moving to America would be a better lifestyle. Instead of immigrating to America, they became “migratory workers.” The Irish fled to the United States during the Great Famine because they felt that was their only way of survival from the potato blight. Before leaving Ireland to immigrate, they attended parties for their departure known as “American wake” where they would basically say good-bye to their friends and family because they knew they would most likely not see each other again. The ship ride over to America was tightly packed and about 2o% of the emigrants died on the way over to America. Once in America, the Irish were known as “slaves for the Americans” (148). The Irish soon realized that their immigration into America was not what they had thought it would be. They came in “pursuit of riches, but they failed to find ‘gold on the street corners.’” The Irish began to be compared to black and were though of as ‘race of savages’ and were viewed as outcasts (149). Eventually, the Irish believed that is they wanted to be respected they would have to “promote their whiteness” which caused them to become “antiblack” (151). The Irish grew to believe that since they’re been in America so long that it was home to them now.
After having read Takaki chapter 6, I found it interesting that the Irish went through everything they did in order to come to America and gain their respect once they were here. I thought it was interesting when the Irish began to separate themselves from the blacks by encouraging that they were part of the white race. What if the Irish had never distinguished themselves from blacks? Would the Irish have been part of slavery along with blacks?