Race was represented in both works as something ardently discussed but that went completely unresolved, as the "white" ideology of representation and power dominated the practicality of the day.
This reader was moved by reading both books, a greater understanding of how many times race was set on the backburner, even when it was something many had to look square in the face hundreds of times in a day is essential to a greater understanding of just how complicated tie issue really was and still is in America. The expansion of "whiteness" to a broader category of people, was essential in that this expansion became inclusive of many previously marginalized...
New
immigrants frequently go through a long period of marginalization in their establishment of a new home and it is often a struggle for them to assimilate and be recognized by boarder society as "legitimate" members of the nation. These two works are demonstrative of this ideal and are also respectful of the fact that this inclusion, may have broadened the divide, between blacks and whites, to a degree because it made race a non-issue instead of facing it as an essential aspect of social egalitarianism. The two works agree on many points, not the least of which is that for the Irish, (and other eastern European) immigrants making the choice to be identified and included may have been a strong
personal challenge, as ideals from their home (and especially Ireland) were strongly aligned with abolition and the destruction of unbalanced and unfair labor situations, all of which dominated America.
Works Cited
Ignatiev, Noel. 1995, How the Irish Became White. New York: Routledge.
Roediger, David R. 1999, the Wages of Whiteness. New York: Versio.
