"Free Blacks Lived in the North, Right?" Topic

Interesting reading…

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Amicalement
Armand

Fascinating.

And going back to original records show that many free blacks owned slaves themselves.

And the first slaves in the American colonies were Irish who were forced onto the Colonists by the British Crown. They sent to the Colonies as indentured servants, which was a nice word for slaves.

In fact, the Irish were considered less valuable than the Africans, as the Irish were sent over free to anyone who would take them. The Africans had to be bought and so were worth more.

Fact tends to be way stranger than fiction.

And going back to original records show that many free blacks owned slaves themselves.

Perhaps "many" compared to what one might expect, but very few compared to white owners. Further, a large percentage of black slave ownership involved former slaves buying their own families as a way of getting them out of bondage.

And the first slaves in the American colonies were Irish who were forced onto the Colonists by the British Crown. They sent to the Colonies as indentured servants, which was a nice word for slaves.

Indentured servitude was a form of labor that predated chattel slavery in the American colonies, but it was not forced upon them by the Crown, nor was it a euphemism or synonym for slavery. It was a way for individuals to pay for their passage to America by indenturing themselves for a fixed period of years, after which their contracts (indentures) usually called for them to receive land upon which to start their lives as free and economically independent farmers. In these ways it was fundamentally different from slavery, which had no term.

the Irish were sent over free to anyone who would take them.

By the second half of the 17th century, the British government was sending "undesirables," including criminals, political prisoners, vagrants, and other "masterless men" from Ireland as well as England to the colonies agasint their will, but these were not indentured servants. Further, they were sent to the West Indies rather than to American, for the most part. The "white Irish slaves" myth is on a par with the "black Confederate soldiers" myth.

Fact tends to be way stranger than fiction.

So does fantasy.

Thank you for already speaking to the topic of Slaves owning slaves. It is a complicated topic and as the previous poster pointed out often was a freed slave buying family members who had been sold.

I cannot believe the myth of Irish slaves is still making it rounds. Last year in the week before St. Patrick's Day, more than 80 global academics including senior Irish historians sent news sites an open letter urging them to remove versions of the article, which they described as "racist ahistorical propaganda."

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Here is a very good article demolishing the myth:

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And a article on how it has been used to advance "agenda" of a more sinister nature.

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Wow, gprokopo, I'm sure my great grandmother is thrilled to hear that she really wasn't a slave when he came over from Germany as an indentured servant in the 1880's. And I'm sure to believe absolutely NOTHING a modern 'historian' has to say about anything, in as much as they spend most of their time rewriting history that doesn't fit in with their politics.

CorroPredo, I am truly sorry to read this. Can I recommend you read some of the articles linked to above? They explain the incredibly vast difference between being a indentured servant (who has righrs, laws protecting and a limited time as servent) and being a slave (no rights, life long servitude no laws protecting and your children and grandchildren are slaves).

As to modern historians and believe nothing they have to say. I can only ask you to do more reading.

gprokopo- +3

Corropedro- -3

23rd- Old family stories are always more accurate than properly researched and annotated histories. Didn't you know that?

Three Cheers for gprokopo ! ! !

Thank YOU (and to a slightly lesser extent, 23rd Fusilier)!

Glad you like it Bill!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand