How The Irish Became White Panel and Book Discussion

On October 16, 2020 collaboration with our colleagues at Teachers College and Barnard, the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement hosted a panel discussion on historian Noel Ignatiev’s How the Irish became White.

The book traces how Irish immigrants, who fled persecution in their country, achieved acceptance in the US, in part, by adopting the American culture of oppression of African Americans.

Our panel consisted of Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History and Interim Vice Provost Ira Katznelson, PhD, as well as Rebecca A. Kobrin, PhD, Russell and Bettina Knapp Associate Professor of American Jewish History and Director of the Institute for Jewish Studies, and Timothy Patrick McCarthy, PhD, Lecturer and Core Faculty at Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University.