How Irish Became White: Social Acceptance

• The idea that Irish, Italian, Jewish, and other "ethnic" white Americans were not considered "white" until sometime in the mid-to-late 20th century has spread widely

Scholarly Literature

• Scholarly literature started with Noel Ignatiev's book "How the Irish Became White"
• Authors mean by white is ahistorical
• "Whiteness" means being fully socially accepted as the equals of Americans of Anglo-Saxon and Germanic stock
• "Whiteness" means being an accepted part of the dominant ruling class in the United States

Objective Tests

• Objective tests gauge whether a group was historically considered "white" in the United States
• Tests include if members of the group allowed to go to "whites-only" schools in the South
• Tests also include whether members of the group allowed to partake of the advantages that accrued to whites under Jim Crow
• Whether they were ever segregated in schools by law, anywhere in the United States, such that "whites" went to one school, and the group in question was relegated to another matters
• Whether laws banned interracial marriage in many states, if a white Anglo-Saxon wanted to marry a member of the group, would that have been against the law matters
• Whether some labor unions restricted their membership to whites, and if such unions exclude members of the group in question matters
• Whether members of the group were ever entirely excluded from being able to immigrate to the United States, or face special bans or restrictions in becoming citizens is key

Other points

• Irish, Jews, Italians and other white ethnics were indeed considered white by law and by custom
• Some lighter-skinned African Americans of mixed heritage "passed" as white by claiming they were of Arab descent
• Arab Americans, another group whose "whiteness" has been questioned, were considered white
• Persons of African, Asian, Mexican and Native American descent faced various degrees of exclusion from public schools and labor unions, bans on marriage and direct restrictions on immigration and citizenship
• Only 4 percent of Americans approved of interracial marriage as late as 1958
• Anglo-American whites were not ostracized by polite society for marrying Irish Americans or Italian Americans
• Light-skinned Cubans were considered white at least as of 1950
• American Indians were considered non-white, but if they assimilated and married whites their children were generally accepted as part of white society
• People in the late 19th and early 20th centuries often referred to the "Irish race,” the "Italian race," the "Jewish race, and the "Anglo-Saxon race," and the "Teutonic race"
• Racist pseudo-science of the day divided Europeans into various races by nationality or perceived nationality, and often created a hierarchy among those groups
• Racist literature attacked "ethnic" Americans in terms that were consistent with the more conventional form of American racism The Irish, Italians, Jews, Poles, Arabs, faced discrimination, hostility, assertions of inferiority and occasionally even violence
• Irish, Italian, Polish, Slovak, Jewish, Greek and other immigrants to the United States could have faced a tremendous amount of discrimination from the Northeastern European establishment and yet still have been considered white
• "Ethnic" whites could have been considered to be white, but also been subject to racism, because people believed that there were subraces within the white category

The concept that certain European ethnic groups were not considered "white" until the mid-to-late 20th century is discussed. "Whiteness" is defined as full social acceptance and equal status with Anglo-Saxon and Germanic Americans, as well as being part of the dominant ruling class.