Kilgore College Chapter 18 Stereotypes of the Late Nineteenth Century Paper Your assigned chapter 18 reading, which focuses on urbanization in late ninetee

Kilgore College Chapter 18 Stereotypes of the Late Nineteenth Century Paper Your assigned chapter 18 reading, which focuses on urbanization in late nineteenth-early twentieth centuries America, describes the way in which the new wave of immigrants pouring into these cities from southern and eastern Europe were persecuted. The development of new ethnic slurs during the era, such as the word “kike” for a Jew or the term “wop” for an Italian or calling a Greek a “greaseball,” offer evidence of this phenomenon. Moreover, the textbook states that “[e]thnicity (country or culture of origin) and religion became absorbed into and intertwined with racial categories” as Americans attempted to classify different immigrant groups on a superior/inferior hierarchy. However, it was not just immigrants from southern and eastern Europe who were stereotyped in negative ways. While over one million Irish had flooded into America by the mid-1800s, the Irish were still often stereotyped and persecuted in late nineteenth century America. In fact, the development of a genre of scholarship over the past decade or two called “whiteness studies”—the investigation of the ways in which Americans and northern Europeans invented the racial/ethnic category of “white,” and used the category as a marker of status to separate themselves from the inferior “others”—has demonstrated that the Irish were often lumped in with these southern and eastern European immigrants, as well as Africans and African Americans. I realize this notion may seem strange to many of you, as it’s difficult to imagine an ethnic/national group of people with whiter skin than the Irish, but remember that this is about the way many Americans once perceived, imagined, and stereotyped Irish-American immigrants rather than any physical reality.

Assignment: Go to the following website and read the links located toward the bottom of the page labeled “introduction” and “assignment,” and complete the exercises. Of course, be sure to view the examples of cartoons the author uses to support his points. Once you’ve done so, post your responses to the discussion questions below.

http://chnm.gmu.edu/exploring/19thcentury/alienmenace/index.php

Discussion questions

(1) Describe the various stereotypes of late nineteenth century Irish immigrants and Irish-Americans found in the different political cartoons located on the assigned website.

(2) Based on your textbook reading assignment (chapter 18), the information on the assigned website, and your own critical thinking, answer the following question: What function did nineteenth century (1800s) stereotypes of immigrants and others serve in America?

(3) Go to www.google.com, select “images” at the top of the screen, then type “Irish immigrants” in the search box and conduct a search. You may want to do this same search for “Irish Americans.” What similarities do you see between the nineteenth century stereotypes of the Irish immigrants and the way the Irish are portrayed in today’s popular culture and advertising? Any differences? (it will be useful if you can post a sample image in your post in order to prove your point)

It will be useful if you can post a sample image in your answer to question #3 in order to prove your point. To copy and paste images in the discussion board do the following: highlight the image using your mouse, select control+c on the keyboard to copy the image, select control+v to paste the image.