Yes, I’ll deny that there was widespread discrimination against the Irish in the south. Large parts of the upper South were settled by Scots-Irish Presbyterians.
Southerners pretty much limited their discrimination to Blacks. Even the local Jewish folks were not subject to overt discrimination. (The situation involving Mr. Franks being an aberration, and the lynching having occurred only after he was duly convicted. It also has as much to do with him being a Yankee as it did with him being Jewish.) Much of the hostility that Jewish folks encountered in the South can be traced to their involvement in the civil rights movement.
So in what Southern city was your father told to not shine shoes in front of the hotel?
“Scots-Irish Presbyterians.”
That would explain it. How ‘bout the Catholic Irish? Wasn’t the Klan just a bit against those Papists? This of course is not to say that churches weren’t burned and priests tarred and feathered in the North. My great great grandfather fought back as a howling nativist mob burned down the Catholic Church in our town, cut the fire hoses when the fire brigade showed up and tarred and feathered the priest. He was nearly killed and was never quite right after the beating he got.
“So in what Southern city was your father told to not shine shoes in front of the hotel?”
My grandfather and in a very Northern city.