When Irish Immigrants arrived in America in the late 1800’s they had to face many cruel and harsh stereotypes. For example as mentioned in the book Looking for Jimmy the cartoonist Thomas Nast had created the image of Paddy. Paddy was a stereotypical pug nosed Irishmen. He was seen as someone who was a drunk, always ready to fight, and completely uneducated. Although the cartoon was exaggerated, many Americans saw the Irish as Paddy. As stated by an article by scholar McMahon “The cartoons that follow demonstrate that the Irish viewed their local struggles for equality as part of a wider drama between freedom and tyranny, playing out on a global stage.” The Irish had to struggle for freedom as they were mocked and ridiculed for their very existence to coming to America.
My great grandmother Margaret experienced discrimination as her cooking job was often referred to in a slang expression as “a green horn.” A green horn was a very crude term meaning an inexperienced naïve person, unaccustomed to manors. Ultimately the Irish had to build up a reputation over time in order to be accepted by Anglo-Americans.
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