[FB] “Debunking a Myth: The Irish Were Not Slaves, Too”

(May 1, 2017)

Many Irish came to the Americas in difficult circumstances, but they were not slaves. Slavery in the New World was explicitly race-based. Irish did suffer discrimination, including anti-immigrant sentiment of the Know-Nothings in the early 19th century, but nothing as systematic and long-lasting as racism. The Irish nation has had a rough history, as this article acknowledges, but as far as I’m aware the only Irish slaves were taken by Vikings in raids a millennium ago (that would mean that some Scandinavians have distant Irish ancestry, and certainly vice-versa as well).

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/17/us/irish-slaves-myth.html

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