Thousands of Irish sold into Slavery?
By AmberLynn
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
United States
June 25, 2016 5:58pm CST
Now this isn't the first time I've heard of this. I've heard of many settlers being "Indentured Servants" for a period of time. Essentially, being "sponsored" by an already settled family and paying off that debt by working for the family for free.
However, from what I understand, these new settlers were also learning a trade.
Of course with every innocent act there is also an equal chance of a not so innocent act. Just came across a book I want to pick up eventually that states that these so called "indentured servants" weren't always treated so fairly, and sometimes being sold into a lifetime of slavery.
Here is a link about the book to which I refer.
White Cargo is a book that claims thousands of British and Irish rebels and criminals were sold to new settlements in America to work as slaves.
8 people like this
8 responses
@GardenGerty (169489)
• United States
26 Jun 16
Many people were sold into slavery under the guise of learning a trade, settling a land, being given a better life. It is not always pictured that way, but paying anyone substandard pay and having them live in questionable conditions and exploiting them as manual labor is slavery whether Irish, African or New York City orphans.
2 people like this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jun 16
Not something we are ever taught in schools either. It isn't until recently that I even really discovered that this had been going on in the early years of America.
@josie_ (10033)
• Philippines
26 Jun 16
Whether they were called slaves or indenture servants, the fact remain that Britain did ship thousands of Irish who oppose British rule to the colonies. It explains the hatred and violence between Ireland and England that continues into the 20th century.
2 people like this
@allen0187 (59828)
• Philippines
26 Jun 16
Slavery is still rampant in Asia nowadays. Hard to think that this despicable act continues on. It has thrived because not enough has been done to punish those behind it.
@allen0187 (59828)
• Philippines
26 Jun 16
@ScribbledAdNauseum I think slavery is far worse nowadays. According to statistics, there are more slaves nowadays than all those previous ones combined.
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jun 16
Unfortunately, I think it still happens everywhere. Not to the same extent that it did in history, but I am sitting here thinking about sweat shops for one. Horrid places where young children and women are forced to work for little money and in horrid conditions.
2 people like this
@topffer (42155)
• France
26 Jun 16
Not the same, as it was a kind of labor contract : they were paying the travel by a period of labor, and they were supposed to have a land at the end of the contract, which was usually a 5 years contract. Indentured servants were existing also in Europe : it was authorized until 1779 in France while slavery has always been forbidden in continental France (any slave putting a foot in France was freed). In a contract you have two contracting parties, and you cannot have an indentured servant without the agreement of the servant signing the contract. Now, I have not read the book, and it might be interesting to read what the author found.
@topffer (42155)
• France
26 Jun 16
@ScribbledAdNauseum If I remember, a kind of indentured servants, mainly from Asia, have replaced slaves in some British colonies after the abolition of slavery in 1833, and they were definitely not slaves.
I agree that a contract might be misused, and I do not reject a priori any opinion. I need to read the book first
.
.@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jun 16
A contract doesn't necessarily mean a binding agreement. They have been broken or misused before. Of course in the distant past, where such things were usually done by handshake and good natured handshakes, there is no telling what really went on.
Obviously this book is only two people's opinions and findings, and anything is open to interpretation.
1 person likes this
@amadeo (111937)
• United States
26 Jun 16
this is a first time for me hearing this.I remember a movie White Cargo.This was way back in the late forties.
Maybe this is something different.
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jun 16
I imagine it is purely coincidence that the movie and book are similarly titled.
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jun 16
Forgotten, if not altogether glossed over.
1 person likes this
@Telynor (1763)
• United States
27 Jun 16
Most of the early settlers in the US were rather unwilling. Not just blacks, but the British Empire found that their American colonies were convenient grounds to dump troublemakers; after the American Revolution, Australia became the destination for those who faced transportation. It wasn't just the Irish, plenty of Scots and English made the journey as well.
