Irish the ‘forgotten white slaves’ says expert John Martin

It wasn't just the Irish. In the South after slavery planters hired agents to recruit peasants in Germany and Poland to come and work in an indenture type of arrangement. Considering the poverty in Ireland and Europe in the post-Napoleanic period, all parties benefited.

Speaking od indentured servants, I know a Mayo woman who came here from England in the 70s as an 'indentured' servant to become a housekeeper for a family in Westchester County for one year. Next she she found a job as a waitress in NYC, where she paid taxes to the IRS, N.Y State, NYC (where she worked), Yonkers (where she lived), and also paid S.S. taxesd. When she applied for a driver's license in the '80s, she was required to prove that she was a legal resident and not violating any laws. Now many of our politicians are eager to reward 11 millions ILLEGAL aliens who have openly broken our immigration laws. Why is it that the law-abiding, tax-paying Irish immigrant was treated as a slave or at least as a potential criminal, but the illegal aliens are to be rewarded for their obvious violations of out laws?

It's like the "famine". Nobody wants to talk about the history of Irish slaves because the British have been in denial about what they have done to The Irish, over and over, again. I hoped it would change by now...

It's like the "famine". Nobody wants to talk about the history of Irish slaves because the British have been in denial about what they have done to The Irish, over and over, again. I hoped it would change by now...

It's like the "famine". Nobody wants to talk about the history of Irish slaves because the British have been in denial about what they have done to The Irish, over and over, again. I hoped it would change by now...

Really, TomSwineford. "indentured servants" you are killing us Tom with your kind words for slavery.Are you suggesting that 100,000 children sold into slavery by English marauders that pillaged and raped Ireland in 1650, that those children were all criminals, and this was inhumane but ok because the poor English marauding gentry had somehow to make a profit. Jees Tom you sure, you are not English.

It is undeniably true that the English judicial/penal system "transported" many Irish men and women to the colonies as indentured servants, in effect slavery by another name. For those convicted of crimes that would otherwise result in execution, the indentured term was for life. Others could in time work off their sentence if they could survive it. Some might serve a part of their sentence and apply for a "ticket of leave," sort of getting out early for good behavior. Yes, it was inhuman but lest we forget slavery or near slavery was a very profitable business for all kinds of folks, including the Irish who were masters at it - pun intended. Remember, we stole wee Patrick and enslaved the lad for years. We also stole St. Bridgit's Dad from the Picts in Scotland and enslaved him too. Fact is we did an awful lot of kidnapping and enslaving. Of course we made sure it was all nice and legal, properly accounting for it in Ireland's ancient law, the Brehon Code. Sure in time Dublin became one of the great slave trading centers in Europe. And finally, the English transported many of their own "criminals" too and a lot of Scots and Welsh to boot.

at least they had work

Check out the flag of Montserrat; it is full of Irish symbolism. Very interesting.

Very true article about a subject matter not many people knew about. I have travelled extensively around the Caribbean and did find a surprising Irish influence in several places even today. Good history lesson.

True, successive English governments brutally treated the Irish for several centuries. However, governments in London do NOT have a monopoly in mistreating Irish Nationalists. For about 3/4 of a century after the Irish Free State was established, its various giovernments usually turned a blind eye to discrimination against orthern Nationalists al the hands of Westimimnister and Stormount.

It probably a very bitter pill to swallow for some of our English posters but the reality is that this happened.It happened under the brutal English reign of all English monarchs that ruled in Ireland, but especially under the reign of James1, James 11 and Charles1.You cannot argue with the facts of history, the English introduced the slave trade ,both black and Irish to the America,s.The shame is all English ,so swallow it.

johnshiel: "oh those rascally english..." ---Was that really worth posting? It's four words of nonsense.

Young Irish women were forced to interbreed with black slaves in the Caribbean in order to build a race that was more adaptable to the sun due to the Irish skin burning easily during field work. The only reason white slavery ended in the Americas is because it became outlawed in Europe while African nations continued to be major traders in slaves.

In the history I learned in the Irish primary school, there was one ONE LINE about Irish people who were sold as slaves by the English. In late August of '71 I arrived in Ireland for a 5-wewek's vacation, only 2 weeks after 9 Nationalists were shot dead by British Paras in Belfast. The victims included Fr. Hugh Mullan, Joan Connolly, mother of 9 children, and 7 others. Yet, the media of the Southern Irish state was TOTALLY silent about these 9 killings, but if so much as a telephone box was damaged by the fledging Provos, the same media were filled with righteous indignatiomn. Therefore we should NOT blame historians for completely ignoring the countless thousands Irish who were sold as slaves.