Early twentieth-century US nativism racialized Irish Catholics, Eastern European Jews, and Mormons

Evidence

The twentieth century began with nativist fervor. Religion was at the forefront of debates on whether the millions of new European immigrants were “fit for self-governance”—a euphemism for race. Large numbers of Irish Catholics prompted fears of popery, as Protestants claimed the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church with an infallible pope at the top contradicted American principles of liberty and freethinking. Likewise, mass migration of Eastern European Jews triggered nativist anxiety of the so-called Hebrew race corrupting American society. And, Mormons’ polygamous marriages caused the White Protestant majority to disparage them as “American Mohammedans.” — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 248

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the long history of seeing religious difference as racial difference in America, echoing what the reader knows about Orientalism and the racialization of Muslims. — connects to: Racial nativism supplanted anti-Catholicism because it fit the new immigrant threat — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 567; Racial nativists reframed discrimination as equal justice to justify the 1890 census base — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 1926; Anti-European nativism recycled emotions first aimed at nonwhite groups — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 763 (+2 more)