Presidential candidate’s potential ties to an Irish slave owner complicate narratives around colonial legacies and the proper place of Black Irish identity in history.
When Barack Obama was elected president, the people of Moneygall in Ireland celebrated. Birthplace of Obama’s great-great-great-grandfather on his white mother’s side, the village commemorated the victory – and a later visit from the 44th president – with pints of Guinness and a kitschy trade in “O'Bama” memorabilia.
While the full story of Harris’ Jamaican and Irish roots may never be known, the ancestral claims nonetheless allow scholars of Black American and Irish history like us a moment to reexamine Ireland’s multilayered historical identity. The latter were preferred, as they became workers for life. As societies in the Caribbean developed, and indentures came to an end, the Irish generally found themselves benefiting from the racial hierarchies that evolved. To be sure, most remained poor while fanning out across the Caribbean island in search of work, and they lacked meaningful political power relative to the British ruling elite. But they had their freedom.
For British imperial authorities, the northern part of Ireland was always considered the most troublesome, so replacing the Catholic natives with Protestants from Britain was seen as a way to make the country more governable. When Britain officially outlawed slavery in 1834, there were 1,200 enslaved people working on Brown’s mainly sugar plantations, for whom he received over 12,000 pounds in compensation – more than US$12 million in today’s money.
2024 US Elections Barack Obama British Empire Caribbean Colonial History Colonialism History Identity Ireland Irish History Jamaica Joe Biden John F. Kennedy Kamala Harris Northern Ireland Presidential Elections Slavery
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