“With the present population . . . there can never be peace”: A Case Study on the Making of Anti-Irish Sentiment in the American Press

ABSTRACT This case study of a locally influential weekly newspaper in the Pennsylvania anthracite coal region, The Miners’ Journal, aims to develop a new understanding of the emergence of anti-Irish narratives in America. It demonstrates the importance of class and organized labor in shaping negative attitudes toward the Irish and indicates a later nationwide export of this specific class-based anti-Irish narrative. The findings indicate that the close connection between anti-Irish sentiment and hostility toward organized labor was no mere coincidence nor secondary addition, but a core feature of anti-Irish narratives dating back at least to the early 1840s. Consequently, this study argues for a revision of prevailing theories on Irish acculturation and “Whiteness” in America, accounting for the pressures faced by working-class Irish because of such narratives.