They came as slaves: human cargo transported on British ships bound for the Americas. They were shipped by the
hundreds of thousands and included men, women, and even the youngest of children.
Whenever they rebelled or even disobeyed an order, they were punished in the harshest ways. Slave owners would hang their human property by their hands and set their hands or feet on fire as one form of punishment. Some were burned alive and had their heads placed on pikes in the marketplace as a warning to other captives.
We don’t really need to go through all of the gory details, do we? We know all too well the atrocities of the African slave trade.
But are we talking about African slavery? King James VI and Charles I also led a continued effort to enslave the Irish. Britain’s Oliver Cromwell furthered this practice of dehumanizing one’s next door neighbor.
The Irish slave trade began when James VI sold 30,000 Irish prisoners as slaves to the New World. His Proclamation of 1625 required Irish political prisoners be sent overseas and sold to English settlers in the West Indies.
By the mid 1600s, the Irish were the main slaves sold to Antigua and Montserrat. At that time, 70% of the total population of Montserrat were Irish slaves.
Ireland quickly became the biggest source of human livestock for English merchants. The majority of the early slaves to the New World were actually white.
From 1641 to 1652, over 500,000 Irish were killed by the English and another 300,000 were sold as slaves. Ireland’s population fell from about 1,500,000 to 600,000 in one single decade.
Families were ripped apart as the British did not allow Irish dads to take their wives and children with them across the Atlantic. This led to a helpless population of homeless women and children. Britain’s solution was to auction them off as well.
During the 1650s, over 100,000 Irish children between the ages of 10 and 14 were taken from their parents and sold as slaves in the West Indies, Virginia and New England. In this decade, 52,000 Irish (mostly women and children) were sold to Barbados and Virginia.
Another 30,000 Irish men and women were also transported and sold to the highest bidder. In 1656, Cromwell ordered that 2000 Irish children be taken to Jamaica and sold as slaves to English settlers.
Many people today will avoid calling the Irish slaves what they truly were: Slaves. They’ll come up with terms like “Indentured Servants” to describe what occurred to the Irish. However, in most cases from the 17th and 18th centuries, Irish slaves were nothing more than human cattle.
As an example, the African slave trade was just beginning during this same period. It is well recorded that African slaves, not tainted with the stain of the hated Catholic theology and more expensive to purchase, were often treated far better than their Irish counterparts.
African slaves were very expensive during the late 1600s (£50 Sterling). Irish slaves came cheap (no more than £5 Sterling). If a planter whipped, branded or beat an Irish slave to death, it was never a crime. A death was a monetary setback, but far cheaper than killing a more expensive African.
The English masters quickly began breeding the Irish women for both their own personal pleasure and for greater profit. Children of slaves were themselves slaves, which increased the size of the master’s free workforce.
Even if an Irish woman somehow obtained her freedom, her kids would remain slaves of her master. Thus, Irish mothers, even with this new found emancipation, would seldom abandon their children and would remain in servitude.
In time, the English thought of a better way to use these women to increase their market share: The settlers began to breed Irish women and girls (many as young as 12) with African men to produce slaves with a distinct complexion. These new “mulatto” slaves brought a higher price than Irish livestock and, likewise, enabled the settlers to save money rather than purchase new African slaves.
This practice of interbreeding Irish females with African men went on for several decades and was so widespread that, in 1681, legislation was passed “forbidding the practice of mating Irish slave women to African slave men for the purpose of producing slaves for sale.” In short, it was stopped only because it interfered with the profits of a large slave transport company.
England continued to ship tens of thousands of Irish slaves for more than a century. Records state that, after the 1798 Irish Rebellion, thousands of Irish slaves were sold to both America and Australia. There were horrible abuses of both African and Irish captives. One British ship even dumped 1,302 slaves into the Atlantic Ocean so that the crew would have plenty of food to eat.
There is little question the Irish experienced the horrors of slavery as much (if not more, in the 17th Century) as the Africans did. There is also little question that those brown, tanned faces you witness in your travels to the West Indies are very likely a combination of African and Irish ancestry.
In 1839, Britain finally decided on it’s own to end its participation in Satan’s highway to hell and stopped transporting slaves. While their decision did not stop pirates from doing what they desired, the new law slowly concluded this chapter of Irish misery.
But, if anyone, black or white, believes that slavery was only an African experience, then they’ve got it completely wrong. Irish slavery is a subject worth remembering, not erasing from our memories.
But, why is it so seldom discussed? Do the memories of hundreds of thousands of Irish victims not merit more than a mention from an unknown writer?
Or is their story to be the one that their English masters intended: To completely disappear as if it never happened.
None of the Irish victims ever made it back to their homeland to describe their ordeal. These are the lost slaves; the ones that time and biased history books conveniently forgot.
In the 1680's she was working as a housekeeper in Salem. After some of the children she was caring for got sick she was accused of being a witch.
At the trial they demanded she say the Lord's Prayer. She did so, but in Gaelic, because she didn't know English. She was then hung.
To learn more you can go to the following sources:
Interesting historical note: the last person killed at the Salem Witch Trials was Ann Glover. She and her husband had been shipped to Barbados as a slave in the 1650's. Her husband was killed there for refusing to renounce catholicism.
In the 1680's she was working as a housekeeper in Salem. After some of the children she was caring for got sick she was accused of being a witch.
At the trial they demanded she say the Lord's Prayer. She did so, but in Gaelic, because she didn't know English. She was then hung.
To learn more you can go to the following sources:
Political Education Committee (PEC)
American Ireland Education Foundation
54 South Liberty Drive, Suite 401
Stony Point NY 10980
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Bibliography
Aubrey Gwynn, S.J., Documents relating to Irish in the West
Indies -- Analecta Hibernica
Page: 153
Note: 1
Edward O'Meagher Condon, The Irish Race in America, New York,
A.E. and R.E. Ford, 1887
Page: 15 41 38,9
Note: 3 21 37
Arthur Percoval Newton, The European Nations in the West Indies
1493-1688, London, J. Dickens & Co, Reprint 1967
Page: 163
Note: 4
Richard S. Dunn, Sugar and Slaves, Chapel Hill, NC, U of NC
Press, 1972
Page: 56, 122, 130 ? 133 160
Note: 5 13 24 25
Page: 327 ? 131 141
Note: 29 30 32 34
Maurice Lenihan, History of Limerick, Cork, Mercier, ?
Page: 668,9 669
Note: 6 26
John P. Prendergast, The Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland,
Dublin, ?, 1865
Note: 9 17
Sir William Petty, Political Anatomy of Ireland, London, ?, 1719
Page: 19
Note: 7
John Thurloe, Letter of Henry Cromwell, 4th Thurloe's State
Papers, London, 1742
Note: 8
Thomas Addis Emmet, Ireland Under English Rule, NY & London,
Putnam, 1903
Page: 101, vol I 101, vol I 211,2
Note: 12 19 28
Joseph J. Williams, Whence the "Black Irish" of Jamaica, NY,
Dial, MCMXXXII
Page: 17 17
Note: 10 11
Anthony Broudine, Propuguaculum, Pragae Anno, 1669
Note: 18
Dr. John Lingard, History of England, Edinburgh, ? ,1902
Page: 336, vol X
Note: 20
Abbot E. Smith, Colonists in Bondage, 1607-1776, Glouster, Mass,
Smith, 1965
Page: 164 165 334 209 336
Note: 2 16 23 27 36
C. S. S. Higham, The Development of the Leeward Islands Under the
Restoration, 1660-1688, London,
Cambridge, 1921
Page: 4 47
Note: 14 22
Richard Ligon, A True and Exact History of Barbadoes, London,
Cass, 1657, reprinted 1976
Page: 44
Note: 31
Eric Williams, From Columbus to Castro, 1492-1969, New York,
Harper and Roe, 1971
Page: 101
Note: 15
Wesley Frank Craven, The Colonies in Transition, 1660-1713, New
York, Harper and Roe, 1968
Page: 55 58
Note: 33 35
I never knew, but will never forget
ReplyDeleteI never knee all of this thank you for posting it.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this story. My grandmother's family came from England little can be found. This could be how they got here. Touching story for all of us.
ReplyDeleteA fascinating bit of history, I would love to read more on the subject.
ReplyDeleteas an Irish woman I appreciate knowing some of the history of my ancestors. It is heartbreaking to think that after all of the suffering our ancestors went through it's not mentioned in one single history book that I've ever read or taught in any classes.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, I had never heard this before and I am 58 yrs old. That's totally ridiculous they haven't been mentioned or honored for a very desperate life.
DeleteYou are exactly right. Why weren't we taught this in school or even college. Disrepect all over again. I apologize your family was affected. I don't know my heritage except that my grandfathers family came from England, but he was born in the states. That's about all I know.
DeleteYou're right, I had never heard this before and I am 58 yrs old. That's totally ridiculous they haven't been mentioned or honored for a very desperate life.
DeleteThe ans is one word: Protestantism!
Deletehttp://historynewsnetwork.org/article/41431
DeleteA good review of African Slavery
I knew about this because my great great grandmother and her brother were "indentured servants" and the history was past down from my grandfather to me. I like to tell African Americans that chant racism about it when they say poor me for something that never happened to them personally.
DeleteTo Redd - Protestantism was no more cruel than The Catholic Inquisition. I study history. I was raised Catholic and became Protestant in adulthood. I have great respect for the history of both belief systems, without overlooking the extreme cruelties perpetrated by each.
DeleteChristina: Your post is almost one year old, so I'm not sure you will even see this. I can only hope.
DeleteI was in Antigua around 1959-1961. Some of the old timers told stories that they heard from great grandfathers. Most were hard or horrible. Being 28 years old at the time, I couldn't believe humans could be so cruel to one another. Of course, with the passing of 160 years, a kinder and more gentle society, hopefully has emerged.
Be proud of your ancestors Christina.
I had always heard from my father about how the history books don't tell all that happened, only some of it. ...and he often referred to that 'scoundrel Cromwell'. At my young age at the time, I would say that it didn't concern me, that I was an American. ...Thanks for posting this =)
DeleteAs a descendant of Afro-Irish-Scot ancestry,this story just increases the pain I've lived with
Deletefor over sixty years.Not being enough of any nationality to be excepted by this nation. I still have vivid memories of my great-uncles never going shirtless,no matter how hot it was due to the scars on their backs from their owners whips. Remember-History Books are Written by the Victors & the Oppressors.
The cruelty human beings can visit on each other is boundless....God help us.
ReplyDeletethank you for sharing. quite the eye opener - shocking!
ReplyDeletemy great great grandmother was an "indentured servant" from Ireland. I also want to mention Asian and native american slavers; and it still happens in other parts of the world too -
ReplyDeleteI'm Irish and I never knew any of this am glad you posted this Thank you.
ReplyDeleteOmg this is so awful. I also am of Irish heritage.
ReplyDeleteMe too I know there's a reason why do like the English
DeleteI am also irish heritage. The irish are strong people and don't talk about a lot of family tragedy.
DeleteI was totally unaware about the Irish Slaves, didn't find it anywhere.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much this piece of very important history.
Wow it suprises me that the irish were despised so much throughout history england cant beat us if you ask me england needs to free occupied ireland and issue a public apology to all those with irish anscestry for their treatment and atrocities they commited against us over the centries. Side note is we kept fighting and overcoming like the proud irish that we are and in closing i want to say for such a small island there sure are alot of us .
ReplyDeleteTotally agree
DeleteTotally agree
DeleteMay God have mercy on those responsible ..and may the rest of us learn to honor those who were here before us and fought for us all to have a better life.
DeleteWe should allow the Irish to have an "Irish History Month" or a "white history month",but then I'm called racist ? Whats up with that,for asking for equal rights,we should never forget what's been done to us the Irish,so history doesn't repeat itself,and to teach our history to our own people and the world
ReplyDeleteevery day is white history month
DeleteOur families have moved on. They would want us to keep moving on. Not holding grudges over things in the past as we have no Control over what happened then. We need to do well for them and succeed in life and be happy and dance a wee bit too!
DeleteIt's sad this happened however let's take a look at St. Patrick's day, The real sad story of the black tribe in Ireland that the Irish were killing off to rid the world of these Snake head ppl. That was one of the names the Irish called them.
ReplyDeleteActually, the snakes were Pagans who did not conform to Christianity, regardless of their color.
DeleteIt's sad this happened however let's take a look at St. Patrick's day, The real sad story of the black tribe in Ireland that the Irish were killing off to rid the world of these Snake head ppl. That was one of the names the Irish called them.
ReplyDelete"Snake head people" that sounds a bit like Reptilians to me. You don't know the whole story of what was going on and that's probably why England hates the Irish because maybe they knew something we don't.
DeleteSo you're saying that because a group of Irish killed off a "the black tribe in Ireland" that this means we shouldn't mention them as part of the slave trade? What the hundreds of thousands of people involved in this went through means nothing because of one event which had absolutely nothing to do with slavery and was actually determined to be religiously motivated?
DeleteOk, so if that's true does that mean that the African slave trade should be ignored because of the politically motivated genocide in Rwanda?
The answer is no by the way. Neither of the other events mentioned, the Rwonda genocide or the tribe killed by "St. Patrick" have anything to do with the suffering these people, both black and white, endured. To try and lessen this suffering because of wrongs committed by the same race or nationality of people in unrelated events is a logical fallacy.
So sad, but true. Prior to the birth of Christ, the Irish were enslaved by the Vikings. It is believed that is where the Irish got the red hair and blue or green eyes. No wonder we're now known to be a bit feisty at times.
ReplyDeleteViking raids didn't start until the 9th Century. Still only a thousand years out.
DeleteSo awful! I have a Help Wanted sign from 1905 in Boston stating
ReplyDelete"HELP WANTED
No Irish Need Apply"
We need to be able to talk about this without having to feel like we're being politically incorrect to Africans and African Americans
Exactly! So tired of all the self pity. You don't see Irish people crying and wanting more and more as nothing is ever gonna satiate African/Americans.
DeleteI have often wondered how my ancestors felt white privileges.
ReplyDeleteprecisely, e.g. Pharaohs throughout centuries.
ReplyDeleteNever knew thnx for posting this !!
ReplyDeleteIncredible! Have to investigate this story. I have never heard of this before.
ReplyDeletethe signs in Boston read,"no dogs or Irish allowed".
ReplyDeleteI have two Irish great-great grandfathers from Ireand, tough they did come over here like this but in 1800s. Bt I knew of this, as wen I interviewed about Shirley Plantation ib Charles City, Virginia for a chapter in my Virginia's Haunted Historical Triangle, that they had white slaves at the beginning as much if not more than African slaves. And if everyone could go back in their ancestry, we all had a salve as an ancestor. Just people do know think this. I do not think anyone of us escaped that.
ReplyDeleteMy Irish ancestors came here in the mid sixteen hundreds. They quickly broke the chains but only to be enslaved again now by a tyrannical government. So who is really free and aren't we all just slaves to the banksters?
ReplyDeleteMy French ancestors hunted and then became farmers. Landowners. They worked their own land
DeleteMy parents are Irish and we've never heard of this. However this may add something to the disciussion https://www.opendemocracy.net/beyondslavery/liam-hogan/%E2%80%98irish-slaves%E2%80%99-convenient-myth
ReplyDeleteThe reason most of the commenters here were never taught this in school is because none of it is true. It's a recently invented history that's been shared many times on the internet, but has been thoroughly debunked by legitimate historians. Even the bibliography sources mentioned here are totally bogus.
ReplyDeletewe new about it in our family history, "snowflake". There is always one that that denies the reality of history.
DeleteIt is true, "snowflake". One of my great,great ,great grandmother was from Irish and a slave. There will always be one that denies the hash reality of history.
DeleteJust so you know smart one my ancestors were slaves up north for 139 years. The U.S. census for 139 years proves my Irish ancestors were slaves even into the early 1900's.
DeleteSo just bc there are people and historians who do not want the world to know the truth about white slavery, doesn't mean it's not real. My family, actually, still has the right of passage papers given to my great grandfather and his family that freed them for their master once he died in the early 1900's!
And, I'm sure you know nothing about the "WHITE FRENCH/ACADIAN SLAVES" either, did you?
You might wanna get you a copy of a book called "A GRAND AND NOBLE SCHEME" by
That book talks about how my French/Acadian ancestors were actually THE FIRST SETTLERS OF THE NEW WORLD, IN 1604, IN NOVA SCOTIA. They struggled to get their settlement established and failed many times. However they finally did establish it and lived peacefully with and among the Mi'kmaq Indians for 151 years. Then in 1755 after many wars with the British Americans, they finally conquered my French/Acadian ancestors and deported them from the homeland they built. When they did, THEY WERE SOLD INTO SLAVERY IN THE WEST INDIES, AFRICA, IN VIRGINIA AND OTHERS WERE SHIPPED OFF TO DIE IN THE SWAMPS OF LOUISIANA.
The definitive source for the history of the Acadian people who arrived in Louisiana is at the Museum of the Aacadian Memorial. *It's a research repository,memorial, history lesson all wrapped into one. It's located right on the banks of Bayou Teche, very close to the original location of Poste des Attakapas, the Spanish military post where the Acadians arrived in St. Martinville, Louisiana.*Quoted*
The French Acadian museum or the museum of the Acadian memorial, as they are calling it now,in St. Martinville, where the ship landed is a good place to start on your discovery to white FRENCH SLAVERY ALSO!
Museum of the Acadian Memorial
121 S New Market St, St Martinville, LA 70582
(337) 394-2273
https://g.co/kgs/Tb0KLm
You might wanna check out the Acadian Cultural Center also.
Chalmette Battlefield & National Cemetery, Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, 501 Fisher Rd, Lafayette, LA 70508
(337) 232-0789
https://g.co/kgs/OYxeRZ
There is plenty of history on white slavery. The biggest problem with people believing it today is, that bc of the racial agenda the left is pushing about black slavery and treatment would be quailed if people knew ALL OF AMERICAS DARK PAST TJST INCLUDED WHITE SLAVERY! So, what do they do but say that this is a newly made up lie to try and diminish the relevance or to minimize the signifigance of African slavery. But I'm here to tell you that's not true. The reason so many are blind to these facts is because it's not really discussed in history books, in schools, in colleges but only within the families of those effected, for many generations.
And now liberals are calling it FAKE bc they know it won't push their agendas, it would actually quell them.
If people would take the time to really seek out the truth, it's not that hard to find!
One other point, I'd like to make in closing is, Rameses-a black Pharoh of Eygpt, and his descendents kept "WHITE JEWISH SLAVES" in slavery for over 2500 years. Soooooo, your analogy of there never being WHITE SLAVES is utterly ridiculous and without merit.
Do some research, DIG DEEP, & you'll eventually find the truth. That is, IF YOU REALLY WANT TO FIND IT!
It's not a competition of sorrow or a race to the bottom. There is no need to compare the tragedy of the Irish slave trade to the African slave trade to make your points. I would welcome a Irish history month. The triumph in the story is how Irish and Black survivors have persevered through their horrific beginnings.
ReplyDeleteI read about this before. This is evil beyond. All who use people in this manner will burn in hell
ReplyDeleteI never knew this nor shall I ever forget!!!! Explains a lot.
ReplyDeleteFrom an Irish news website, the MYTH of Irish Slavery:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thejournal.ie/readme/irish-slaves-myth
Be a little skeptical, people!
Now my ancestors came from Ireland and I am not out asking for welfare, payment for years of enslavement, Irish lives matter or any of the other hogwash going around this country for years. I would not change one thing. As a matter of fact what do your think about the Irish situation now? WHO rules Ireland? Right, the British.
ReplyDeleteNo, the British do not rule Ireland. Ireland has been an independent country since 1922
Deletesend this to al sharptons FB site
ReplyDeleteAnd the blacks / niggas want repartation. For what ? They are only looking for another hand out.
ReplyDeleteReally????? I am one of the mulatto faces that he described in his article. How are you going to call any body that name???? When you were considered one as well. The nerve.
DeleteI had a couple of ancestors transported to the colonies. They were both English and ended up as indentured slaves. The poor and powerless are the ones who ended up that way.
ReplyDeleteSorry, not true.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/04/19/how-myth-irish-slaves-became-favorite-meme-racists-online
To all you yankees out there shouting about trump being this and that ,well from where i`m watching (scotland) trump is nothing but a bigot ,racist,war monegerer,and now were being told he was a kiddie fiddler way back in his early days and you`s are about to let that filth sit in your white house ,it`l be a brothel by the time that peice of shit leaves it ,and btw he`ll start a war thats for certain ,hes an animal .
ReplyDeleteAmen!
DeleteWell, from where you are watching, Ter67, you are seeing what the stinking "news" media wants you to see. You aren't an American and you aren't voting in our country, so as I see it--it's none of your business what you think of our president! We are sick and tired of the lying, worthless, lazy, typical politicians who are only fattening their own pockets and resumes. Trump has already improved GOBS of things and he's only been in the office a month as of today. I'm thrilled we had a change and it is making America great again, whether you like it or not. We think it's fantastic!
DeleteAmen to that :) :)
DeleteI want restitution for all my ancestors....blahblahblah
ReplyDeleteThere is an element of truth to the story you reference here but your exaggerations undermine it.
ReplyDeleteThe vast majority of Irish Slaves were sent to the West Indies (Jamaica, Barbados and Montserat). The Irish were not the only white slaves either. Many English and Scottish people were transported to Barbados as well.
Other English colonies (Virginia) at the time operated with a system of indenture where people worked as quasi-slaves for a period of time (10 years, 20 years) after which they were released.
When the slave trade from Africa opened up with traders bringing slaves out and tobacco or sugar cane back to England, Irish slaves were less in demand. Africans were stronger and were considered more docile.
On some islands of the Caribbean, the white slaves were promoted to be overseers of the Black slaves and, as human nature often shows, were far from sympathetic to their charges but treated them with the same cruelty they had experienced. In one slave rebellion in Barbados which was jointly plotted by white Irish/Scots and black slaves, the whites made a secret deal with the plantation owners and in exchange for their own privileges allowed the full retribution to fall on the African slaves.
It was no surprise then that the descendants of such white slaves became increasingly isolated in Barbados, especially when the majority black population gained power after independence. On YouTube you can find interviews made by the Radharc programme in the 1970s with the "Red Legs" of the North Western parishes of Barbados. The Irish names and accents are still quite clear.
To say that the Irish slave experience was "worse" than the African one is at best petty.
When the vast majority of Irish came to America after 1850, slavery was already being abolished in many states (Louisiana) and it was cheaper for plantations to employ the Irish as indentured servants on a 10 year term than to keep slaves that they were legally bound to house and nourish to their dying day.
History is generally a lot more complex than "We were always the victims".
This is common knowledge among Irish families.
ReplyDeleteI'm Irish American and I have known about this. My Mother's family were 'indentured' so to speak and arrived in the late 1600's. Reading about them sounded like slavery to me. They were brought to Virginia and North Carolina. My mother also has family from the West Indies. My Irish father's family arrived in 1863 during the Civil War. This is so heart breaking and also fascinating. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteIt's disheartening to know that this wasn't taught in school. Why is the history we are taught incomplete
ReplyDeleteThe history we are taught is incomplete only because Jews and Blacks suffered at the hands of Whites is the necessary background narrative to Jews mobilising Blacks to exterminate Whites, the preparatory parameters for which is set in the compensatory racist Black Lives Matter slogan, meaning therefore that All Lives Matter is somehow racist, leaving White Lives Matter even more so.
DeleteTotal dribble. The JEWS owned and operated the ships carrying the stock of human cargo. The JEWS ran the slave trade. They also profited hugely from the rum trade. Do your due diligence.
DeleteI'm Irish. I wish I could play that card for what my ancestors went through. Only, I never had time. I was too busy earning a living.
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time I have come to know that many Irish were also slaves.We were only told about African Slavery
ReplyDeleteSt Patrick was one of those slaves taken from his home in England to Ireland by Irish Pirates, he preached gods word and baptised many Irish people during his lifetime, hence becoming the patron saint of Ireland.. Oliver Cromwell did his best to rid Ireland of its people & its churches, What he did to them was horrendous, barbaric & shameful, he was a murderer & a king slayer(having Charles 1 accused of treason and beheaded) and a thief sacking the churches to gain their 'riches' all while wearing the badge of 'lord protector' Not many people know what was done to the Irish people throughout history, as the story says it was kept 'quiet' but the Irish people havent forgotten its history...I am Irish and English & can honestly say I feel shame on my English side when looking at the history of this country...We have had horrible things done to us but we too have been horrible throughout the centuries...Lets hope we learn from history and dont repeat it.
ReplyDeleteSlavery has never stopped. It's still ongoing and worse than ever. Look at the numbers of missing children every year. It's appalling. This is actually due to children captured for slave labor and other unspeakable atrocities. Revelation speaks of modern slavery.
ReplyDeleteHeartbreaking... and even worse to know we are not honoring these people to teach our children the REAL history.
ReplyDeleteIf History is not recorded and shared it will disappear.
ReplyDeleteI've written a historical novel called "Breakout from Sugar Island" about the Irish slave trade to Barbados in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to work in the sugar colony. Hence the name Sugar Island. One of my resources was a book called "To Hell or Barbados" by Sean o'callaghan and Irish Times journalist. Conditions were as horrific as the above article describes. Irish slave descendants today are called red legs.
ReplyDeleteAnd one wonders why so many Irish to this day have a healthy disdain for Great Britain! Northern Irish were not only disenfranchised by the British but had their property and businesses taken away from them and handed to newly arrived British settlers. To this day there is animosity between Catholic Irish in the north and "Prots", Protestant "Irish" who are the linear descendants of those British settlers. The Irish in the south finally won independence from Britain in part because of World War I which kept the British occupied in mainland Europe. It is no coincidence that the free Irish Republic is 90% Catholic.
ReplyDeleteSUCH IS LIFE
ReplyDeleteNED KELLY
Born December 1854
Beveridge, Victoria, Australia
Died 11 November 1880 (aged 25)
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Occupation Bushranger
No, never will I forget this story...:'( ♡
ReplyDeleteTrue about the slavs
ReplyDeleteIt is my ancestry.
I nvr knw abt Irish slaves, bt i knew abt the british treating them bad"('it's in their blood')even today". I lv Irish nd Scotts.
ReplyDeleteExactly.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this. I often wonder why my last name was McCormick, and on my mom's side, her grandfather was Irish.
ReplyDeleteFor those who compare it to African American slavery, yes the two were both horrific, however, the Irish were still white and eventually were able to blend in with the other whites. They Anglicized their last names to make them sound more English. Black Americans couldn't bleach their skin to blend in. Yes there are some that are lighter than others (like me and my family) but we are still Black.
I am from Irish decent and I am very appreciative that you posted this. I had heard bits and pieces but this gave me much more information.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this.
And to think there is more slavery going on today than back then.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I was aware of this horrific chapter in world history, I never knew the extent. The only thing that I wish wasnt glossed over is the Catholic vs. Protestant equation. It seems the Irish were enslaved due to their religion...otherwise why weren't the Welsh, Scots or seemingly the Prot Irish enslaved?
ReplyDeleteTHank you Namaste.
ReplyDeleteThere is nor parallel to English or British Atrocities faced by the world
ReplyDeleteAs someone who comes from Irish ancestors, I knew the Irish were used as slaves, however I did not know any of this. Thank you for posting this.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting article. Thank you for publishing it. Slavery is wrong no matter when or where it occurred. It is horrible that it still exists today.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this story. This was not taught in any history classes I've taken. Slavery is wrong no matter when or to whom it occurred. That it still occurs today is an extreme example of man's inhumanity to other men.
ReplyDeleteHere you go BLM some history for you.
ReplyDeleteMy great grandmother told me some of the stories, terrible indeed. She told me that they called my ancestors indentured servants and that they were way more likely to be abused, raped, beaten, tortured and lynched which is a gaelic word by the way. She said the reason for this was that they had very little monetry value if any at all and we're very plentiful mainly because of their religious convictions. The history books have erased this subject while adding to the books information pertaining to African slaves who were sold by their own families in most cases. They were treated better, they had living quarters or houses, food , medicine because they were to valuable to get sick and not able to work. They were treated as livestock which is bad to say but true, while the Irish were allowed to die or if they became ill they would be killed and replaced. So many of my ancestors were killed and when alive were treated as throw away dirty paper napkins. But you will not find groups of Irish decendants marching in the streets leaving a path of hate and destruction while calling out Rich people for reperations. We are a proud people and work for what we want for our families and provide without claiming that we have gone through centuries of oppression.Thanks for spreading some truth because most people are ignorant to this subject through no fault of their own but because it has been erased from history. Spread the word and do your own research. The South and Appalachia are made up of these ancestors, the red haired blue eyed and fair skinned is a genetic trait but doesn't mean your an Irish decedent or not. Get an Ancestry.com test done for around 100 bucks. Thanks for the post
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting this is important history. Slavery can happen to anyone and any race even today. Spread history and facts that is what is needed in the world.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, many do not have a clue what happen in history, my 6th Great Grandfather was am indentured servant from Ireland came to Maryland in 1669
ReplyDeleteInteresting, many do not have a clue what happen in history, my 6th Great Grandfather was am indentured servant from Ireland came to Maryland in 1669
ReplyDeleteJust teach everyone at school, church and home that we are all human. Treat others how you would wish to be treated.
ReplyDeleteToo many people have suffered at the hands of greedy rich people.
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