In the South the prejudice against the Irish took on a different twist. They were often compared with the slaves and were even called “******s turned inside out” while the slaves were referred to as “smoked Irish.” An English traveller noted that both Irish and African Americans “were viewed as outcasts.” To be called an Irishman, noted the visitor, “is almost as great an insult as to be stigmatized as a ****** feller.” Some jobs were even thought to be too dangerous for the slave population whereas no job was too risky for the Irish. They were preferred to the slaves when it came to working on the docks because, as one official put it, “The ******s are worth too much to be risked here; if the Paddies are knocked overboard, or get their backs broke, nobody loses anything.”
In the 1850s anti-Irish prejudice took on a new dimension. Prior to this time the common belief was that despite their ignorance and brutishness, the Irish could become educated and civilized. In the 1850s the element of race entered the picture and it transformed the image of the Irish. The stereotype of the Irish as ignorant, brutal, and depraved was now said to be rooted in their very nature and no amount of education would cure this.