re: #10 John Vreeland

re: #11 dragonath

The only way to makes sense of Benjamin Franklin calling Germans “swarthy” and implying English (and red Indians) have a better skin complexion than the darker Germans is to see that being “white” is more of a socio-economic element in America.

For example, Irish, as white as i can tell, were portrayed as apes by the racist cartoons of that era, no different then how blacks were portrayed.

“He portrayed the Irish as drunken apes, and the image still remains today.”
The New Jersey Ancient Order of Hibernians opposes inclusion of Thomas Nast — the great 19th century political cartoonist — in the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

also:

The illustration (below) ran in Harper’s Weekly magazine. Notice how the Irish are depicted as more similar to “Negros” than to “Anglo Teutonic” individuals, and both the Irish and Africans are caricatured as ape-like.

obituarytypo.blogspot.com