THE IRISH SLAVES

I've been writing and speaking about this for many decades, but most people find it hard to believe that there were actual "Irish slaves" in "The New World"—especially the Caribbean. I've often told people of how the Irish slaves were worth less than, and replaced by, African slaves because obviously the Irish were a bad choice for working in the hot equatorial sun with their fair skin etc.

So it's good to see a scholar reaffirming what I've been writing and saying for so long. The terrible shame is not just that most people don't know this history, but that some of the unaware-of-their-own-history descendants of these Irish slaves are often the most narrow-minded, bigoted voices among our fellow citizens.

[Here's another version of the Anglo take on the justification for the Irish slaves as interpreted in an 1899 Harper's article, the year my father was born.]