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Campaign mounted against Thomas Nast’s nomination for anti-Irish cartoons

Irish Americans ask for name to be excluded

ANTOINETTE KELLY,

IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Thursday, December 15, 2011, 8:11 AM

Updated Thursday, December 15, 2011, 10:51 AM

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Thomas Nast cartoon

Photo by Google Images

A New Jersey assembly man has requested that Thomas Nast be excluded from the State’s Hall of Fame nominations.

Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo of Mercer County says Nast’s famous cartoons were demeaning and demoralizing to Irish-Americans.

“I’m not saying take down his artwork. I’m saying that I don’t support this individual,” DeAngelo told WCBS 880.

Nast achieved notoriety in the 19th century for his political cartoons. He was born in Germany but immigrated to the U.S. as a child, he moved to Morristown in 1872. He is one of the 50 nominees for the 2012 Class of the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

"He portrayed the Irish as drunken apes, and the image still remains today. We have a lot to offer beyond that," Sean Pender, president of the New Jersey Ancient Order of Hibernians told the Wall Street Journal.
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In a letter to the New Jersey Hall of Fame, DeAngelo called for the removal of Nast’s name.

“As an Irish Catholic myself and the state Assemblyman representing a large Irish community, I am deeply troubled by the nomination of Mr. Nast given disturbing imagery and depiction of Irish Catholics in the 19th Century,” DeAngelo wrote.

“I do not believe that his works represent the people of New Jerseyans from all cultural backgrounds in an appropriate or respectful manner. We should not be honoring any individual who contributed to the popularization of bigotry and prejudice in our country.”

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RedBranch | Dec 16, 2011, 04:10 PM EST

This would be the same New Jersey that state curriculum teaches the famine as part of its genocide module along with the Holocaust.

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kilfinnane | Dec 16, 2011, 09:31 AM EST

"He portrayed the Irish as drunken apes, and the image still remains today. We have a lot to offer beyond that," What the heck does that mean? Beyond what? Is he saying, "Yes, we are drunken apes, but so much more."

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IrelandNorth | Dec 16, 2011, 07:45 AM EST

Pretty Nast[y]! Why not relegate him to a Hall of Infamy? If this was ever an accurate depiction of the Irish, it onlly goes to show how our ancestors were so utterly de-humanised by the brutality of British colonialism and imperialism. Shame on him. Shame on them. Tiocfaidh ar la

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Pittsburghkid | Dec 15, 2011, 11:40 PM EST

We survived it. Let history alone.

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McNamara31 | Dec 15, 2011, 06:56 PM EST

Nast provided an historical looking glass for us to see just how our ancestors were "viewed" in those times and what they had to overcome. They left the deplorable bigotry of the English in Ireland only to find it was alive here as well. Nast depicted the Navitist view of most immigrants as vermin and a blight on “their” America. History will leave this as his legacy and in no way should he be nominated or commended for participating in such bigotry.

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GeorgeDillon | Dec 15, 2011, 01:09 PM EST

Anti-Irish bigotry has a long history. It was already strong in England in Shakespeare's time.

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joycean | Dec 15, 2011, 12:40 PM EST

Maybe we need a new room in the Smithsonian or the Holocaust Museum to illustrate the history of bigotry in this country and elsewhere.

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Rebelforce | Dec 15, 2011, 10:53 AM EST

Everybody knows that if Thomas Nast were a vicious and notorious nineteenth century anti-Semite who drew cartoons of Jews as money-grubbing apes, there is no way he would ever be a nominee for the NJ "Hall of Fame". Respect and courtesy for Jewish power would see to that. Will the Irish and Catholic community in 2011 be given the same respect and courtesy in New Jersey? We'll soon find out.

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SeamusMor | Dec 15, 2011, 10:52 AM EST

So that's where "nasty" comes from!

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butlerreport | Dec 15, 2011, 10:51 AM EST

We didn't get the image of bring 'drunken apes' from Nast. We did - and do - that all on our own.

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manhattan | Dec 15, 2011, 10:27 AM EST

What Nast got away with 100 years or so ago would not be tolerated today. If anyone thinks DeAngelo is exaggerating Nast's bigotry against the Irish just look into his history and you would be furious. I would like to know how one can support DeAngelo in his quest to keep Nast off the Hall of Fame.

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Springfield9 | Dec 15, 2011, 10:00 AM EST

Nast did his most damage in the 1880's well after the Civil War. At that point, an Irish Middle Class was forming, the Irish were participating in government and education had reached a fever pitch. Yet Nast insisted on keeping the famine hatred alive and well.

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slainte9 | Dec 15, 2011, 09:44 AM EST

Nast was profoundly anti-Catholic, not just anti-Irish. He belongs in the hall of shame of the American guild of intolerance.

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