Prior to 1700, there were about 10,000 Irish brought to America as indentured servants. Many of these folks wound up doing farm labor. The period of “servitude” could be from 7 to 15 years based on the cost of their transport to the New World, and what labor skills they had. The white supremacist line is that these people were slaves…They were not. They were not for several reasons –
- They were indentured for a specific period – not life. Once their indenture was over, they had to be released.
- They never lost legal rights. Ergo, and indentured servant had the right to challenge their indenture in court. Furthermore, if assaulted or killed by the plantation owner – the owner was subject to criminal laws, up to and including murder in the courts of the colonies. Salves conversely, were property, and there was no legal consequence of killing a slave.
- About 1670 many of the slave states began passing laws which established slavery solely as a condition of black people. These laws included perpetuity clauses which made the children of slaves…slaves. Status of children, whether free or slave was based on the status of the mother. Ergo, if the mother was free, the children were free. Which was the beginning of the various miscegenation laws prohibiting whites and blacks marriage. Plantation owners specificall wanted to stop black men from having children with indentured Irish women because the children of such would not be slaves.
Virginia, 1662″Whereas some doubts have arisen whether children got by any Englishmen upon a Negro shall be slave or Free, Be it therefore enacted and declared by this present Grand assembly, that all children born in this country shall be held bond or free only according to the condition of the mother.
“Virginia, 1667″Act III. Whereas some doubts have arisen whether children that are slaves by birth… should by virtue of their baptism be made free, it is enacted that baptism does not alter the condition to the person as to his bondage or freedom; masters freed from this doubt may more carefully propagate Christianity by permitting slaves to be admitted to that sacrament.
“Virginia, 1682″Act I. It is enacted that all servants… which shall be imported into this country either by sea or by land, whether Negroes, Moors, mulattoes or Indians who and whose parentage and native countries are not Christian at the time of their first purchase by some Christian… and all Indians, which shall be sold by our neighboring Indians, or any other trafficking with us for slaves, are hereby adjudged, deemed and taken to be slaves to all intents and purposes any law, usage, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding.
“Virginia, 1705″All servants imported and brought into the Country… who were not Christians in their native Country… shall be accounted and be slaves. All Negro, mulatto and Indian slaves within this dominion… shall be held to be real estate.
“South Carolina, 1712″Be it therefore enacted, by his Excellency, William, Lord Craven, Palatine…. and the rest of the members of the General Assembly, now met at Charles Town, for the South-west part of this Province, and by the authority of the same, That all negros, mulattoes, mestizo’s or Indians, which at any time heretofore have been sold, or now are held or taken to be, or hereafter shall be bought and sold for slaves, are hereby declared slaves; and they, and their children, are hereby made and declared slaves….”
White supremacists have been promoting the myth that the first slaves brought to the Americas were Irish, not African — but a historian says there’s simply no evidence to back their racist claims.
Liam Hogan, a research librarian at the Limerick City Library, set about debunking the myth after spotting a widely shared Global Research article in 2013 and realized its potential for misinformation, reported Hatewatch.
“It was quite clear to me then that many would never engage with the history of the transatlantic slave trade when they had this false equivalence to fall back on,” Hogan told the website. “I think that’s what convinced me that I needed to