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Were some Irish immigrants forced into slavery?

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Some during the time argued that the life of the Irish was worse than that of a slave in the south and many argued the poor in general were involved in “wage slavery.” They were not property though and slavery defined means you are chattel or someone else owns you and controls all of your actions. read more

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. read more

In this narrative, the term ‘Irish slaves’ refers specifically to those who were forced onto transport ships and sold into indentured servitude in the West Indies during the Cromwellian era. The 'innocent' usage of this phrase is, to a degree, understandable and its conflation with chattel slavery generally occurs due to a mixture of ignorance and confusion. read more

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