The Irish actively pursued their own reclassification as white

Evidence

In viewing entry into the white race as something the Irish did “on” (though not by) themselves, this book seeks to make them the actors in their own history. — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 38

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Whiteness was a legally contested category that the Irish did not automatically possess — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 150; The Irish were the prototype white servants later absorbed into a white racial identity; Irish ascension to whiteness resulted from strategic choice, not inevitability — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 35 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Irish ascension to whiteness resulted from strategic choice, not inevitability #expands (0.90) — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 35
• The Democratic Party taught Irish immigrants the meaning of whiteness. #exemplifies (0.84) — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 286
• Early unions operated as schools teaching Irish whiteness #exemplifies (0.82) — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 412
• Irish-America’s choice on abolition marked its turn toward whiteness. #exemplifies (0.80) — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 40
• Irish admission to whiteness had to be earned, not guaranteed by skin color. #qualifies (0.75) — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 231
• Irish immigrants achieved whiteness through working the auto assembly lines #exemplifies (0.75) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 182
• The Irish were the prototype white servants later absorbed into a white racial identity #expands (0.72)
• Racial categorization first targeted Ireland through internal colonialism #qualifies (0.72) — , Stephanie B. Martens - Civilization and…, 26
• European immigrants held an intermediate racial status and were induced to become white #expands (0.72) — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 40