Irish mob violence against Blacks arose from labor competition, not prior hatred

Evidence

Philadelphia has suffered, and is now suffering, more than any other city in America, from bad debts to the South. It is now in a state of almost complete paralysis; and as a large portion of the laboring population of Moyamensing and the banks of the Schuylkill are Irish, the consequence is, there is among them a great deal of distress, arising from an inability to find work. To add to the difficulty, large numbers have recently emigrated from Ireland to this country, and are now living in various parts of the county and city, unable to find sufficient employment.… Suffice it to say, that the Irish in this city seem to have imbibed the idea, that the blacks, not being citizens, have no right to stay in the city, and that if they can drive them out of the city, they will have their places, and have work enough to do.… “There’s a house,” said an Irish woman to the mob in Gaskill street, “that I want to have mobbed—there’s some negroes living there, who are living just like white folks.” I could fill a sheet almost with cases of this kind, showing that what was once contempt is now envy, and the most ferocious hatred, arising from the fact that a large portion of the blacks can find work, and they cannot. — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 488

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The correspondent explicitly traces the transformation ‘what was once contempt is now envy, and the most ferocious hatred’ — a precise, documented mechanism for how an oppressed group converts economic rivalry into racialized aggression.
• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: Being grouped with blacks increased Irish hostility toward them. — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 150; Free labor competition breeds unity; only imposed color barriers breed durable animosity — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 358; Irish immigrants learned anti-Black hatred upon landing in America, not at home — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 6 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Perceived Black labor competition directly triggered white mob violence #corroborates (0.92) — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 447
• Racism and self-interest aligned white labor against Black workers across all labor factions #corroborates (0.85) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 949