Sunday, March 30, 2014

White Cargo

Via NC Renegade 
 

In Memory Of The Irish Victims Of Slavery

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 The Irish Slave Trade – The Forgotten “White” Slaves

They came as slaves; vast human cargo transported on tall British ships bound for the Americas.

They were shipped by the hundreds of thousands and included men, women, and even the youngest of children. 

Whenever they rebelled or even disobeyed an order, they were punished in the harshest ways. Slave owners would hang their human property by their hands and set their hands or feet on fire as one form of punishment. They were burned alive and had their heads placed on pikes in the marketplace as a warning to other captives. 

We don’t really need to go through all of the gory details, do we? We know all too well the atrocities of the African slave trade. 

But, are we talking about African slavery? King James II and Charles I also led a continued effort to enslave the Irish. Britain’s famed Oliver Cromwell furthered this practice of dehumanizing one’s next door neighbor.

The Irish slave trade began when James II sold 30,000 Irish prisoners as slaves to the New World. His Proclamation of 1625 required Irish political prisoners be sent overseas and sold to English settlers in the West Indies. 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.




3 comments:

  1. My multi-g grandfather, George "the Jacobite" Marchbanks had his house and Scottish estate confiscated by the British in the Second Jacobite Rebellion, was put in irons and shipped to SC as a slave in about 1735. The term "Indentured Servant" was a later PC usage. The Brits called them slaves. I am proud to be descended from Scots and hardly ever mention my British ancestors.

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    1. Yes, Sir and some in my family.

      http://www.namsouth.com/viewtopic.php?t=211&highlight=seven+blackbirds

      http://www.namsouth.com/viewtopic.php?t=4405&highlight=seven+blackbirds

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    2. I'm right there with you Mr. Smith. I have British ancestry too, but I don't claim it because I consider Britain to be one of the chief exporters of Tyranny the world has ever known. China and N.Korea don't have anything over on the Damned English when it comes to cruelty. They might be toothless at this point in their history, but in their heyday they were the Devil reincarnated.
      My Irish and Scots ancestry, and the knowledge of their trials give me strength every day.
      Miss Violet

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