Whiteness of a Different Color: European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race

The Irish were seen as a lesser white race in the 19th century though they became “white” and thus arguably gained status in becoming American citizens. Unlike the Germans, who also immigrated in great numbers in the mid-19th century, the Irish did not desire to assimilate, especially into Anglo-Saxon culture. Why?

The relation between whiteness and the category of Caucasian helps to establish the definition of whiteness with which 21st-century Americans are familiar. How?

One of the more provocative claims Jacobson makes is that the civil rights movement, in its recognition of the violent power of whiteness, nonetheless further solidified whiteness. Whites were told that they could fight from within whiteness and attempt to resist it in their alliance with Black people. Are white people confined to their problematic whiteness, even when they are genuinely attempting anti-racist work? Is whiteness only and ever an obstruction to racial justice?

Jacobson argues that blackface performances allowed marginal whites (such as Jews and the Irish) to prove their whiteness. How do blackface performances prove whiteness, and why do they become less popular for white audiences by mid-20th century?

While the terms “white” and “Caucasian” seem interchangeable in the 21st century, how did these terms function differently in the early and mid-20th century? Why do we continue to use the term Caucasian, as well as white?

Today we tend to think of imperialism as grounded in white supremacy, but Jacobson argues that anti-imperialism, too, can be a symptom of white supremacy. How is resistance to imperialism potentially indicative of white supremacy?

For most people reading the Naturalization Act in the 21st century, it appears extremely exclusive in its restriction of naturalized citizenship to “free white persons,” but Jacobson insists that these terms were actually inclusive. How can this act be read as inclusive?

The ethnic revival of the late 20th century argues for a clear distinction between the experiences of ethnic whites and non-ethnic whites. What are the similarities and differences between these two populations of whites, and does Jacobson think that these distinctions matter?