All of my work on the “Irish slaves” meme (2015–’18)
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What follows is a full list of all my recent work challenging contemporary propaganda (based primarily on ahistorical blogs and memes) which equate indentured servitude or penal servitude with racialised perpetual hereditary chattel slavery. You can browse my curation of hundreds of examples of how this false equivalence is used on social media here (general use), here (neo-Confederate page) and here (Irish Central page)
Articles
(1) How the Myth of the “Irish slaves” Became a Favourite Meme of Racists Online (Interviewed by Alex Amend of the Southern Poverty Law Centre, 19 April 2016)
Such is the case with the myth of “Irish slaves,” an ahistorical reimagining of real events weaponized by racists and…www.splcenter.org
(2) ‘Irish slaves’: The Convenient Myth (openDemocracy, 14 January 2015)
The conflation of indentured servitude with chattel slavery in the 'Irish slaves' narrative whitewashes history in the…www.opendemocracy.net
(3) Two years of the ‘Irish slaves’ myth: racism, reductionism and the tradition of diminishing the transatlantic slave trade (openDemocracy, 7 November 2016)
In January 2015 I published an article on Beyond Trafficking and Slavery addressing the use of an 'Irish slaves' mythos…www.opendemocracy.net
(4) The Irish in the Anglo-Caribbean: servants or slaves? (History Ireland magazine, March-April 2016) — Co-authored with Laura McAtackney and Matt Reilly
Published in Features, Issue 2 (March/April 2016), Volume 24 By Liam Hogan, Laura McAtackney and Matthew C. Reilly When…www.historyireland.com
When John Grenham asked the question 'Were there Irish slaves in Barbados?' in an Irish Times article on 7 September…www.academia.edu
Shorter version published on theJournal.ie (October 2015)
It's a myth there were 'Irish slaves' in Barbados. As difficult as white servants' experiences were, enslaved Africans…www.thejournal.ie
(5) When History Goes Bad (Rabble magazine, No.11, 2016)
In the wake of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, thousands of people from England, Ireland and Scotland were banished by…www.rabble.ie
(6) A primer on the ongoing proliferation of ahistorical “Irish slaves” articles and memes (introduction to a seven-part series)
Whether one entered into it by force or by choice, an important distinction, indentured servitude in the mid 17th…medium.com
(7) Debunking the imagery of the “Irish slaves” meme (1/7)
Those that promote the meme of Irish perpetual hereditary chattel slavery use a variety of images entirely unrelated to…medium.com
(8) How the African victims of the Zong Massacre were replaced with “Irish slaves” (2/7)
This is part two of my series debunking the “Irish slaves” meme.
See Part One, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five and…medium.com
(9) The “Forced breeding” myth in the “Irish slaves” meme (3/7)
There is so much bad history surrounding the “The Irish were slaves too” meme that one could write a 100,000 word…medium.com
(10) A review of the numbers in the “Irish slaves” meme (4/7)
I really hate that I have to address this part of the meme. The numbers game is a depressing one and every life is…medium.com
(11) Exaggeration and the appropriation of the torture of enslaved Africans in the “Irish slaves” meme (5/7)
This is part five of my series debunking/contextualising the “Irish slaves” meme.
See Part One, Two, Three, Four and…medium.com
(12) The myth of Colonel William Brayne and the “Irish slaves” (6/7)
This is part six of my series debunking/contextualising the “Irish slaves” meme.
See Part One, Two, Three, Four and…medium.com
(13) The myth that Goodwife Glover, an Irish woman executed for witchcraft in Boston in 1688, was an “Irish slave” (7/7)
*Coming soon*
(14) Director’s Cut: Brief critique of Sean O’Callaghan’s ‘To Hell or Barbados’
An extended critique which was cut from my 'Irish slaves' essaywww.academia.edu
(15) Reviewing the fallout from an influential but fatally flawed work of popular history about “white slaves”
White Cargo: The Forgotten History of Britain’s White Slaves in America by Don Jordan and Michael Walsh was published…medium.com
(16) The founder of Irish Central attempts to whitewash their influential role in spreading ahistorical “Irish slaves” propaganda
After spending a year ignoring an open letter signed by over ninety academics, historians and interested parties, Mr…medium.com
(17) The Ancient Order of Hibernians, History Ireland Magazine and the accommodation of ahistorical propaganda
“Few realize that for 100 years after the post-Cromwell restoration of the Crown, during the reigns of King Charles II…medium.com
(18) No, the Irish were not slaves too (Interviewed by David M. Perry for Pacific Standard magazine, 15 March 2018)
Call it "fake history." Whenever people on social media start talking slavery, reparations, and race, some Internet…psmag.com
(19) No, the Irish were not slaves in the Americas (Interviewed by Eoin O’Carroll for the Christian Science Monitor, 16 March 2018)
In America, St. Patrick's Day, which arrives on Saturday, means peak exposure to a particular class of assertion that…www.csmonitor.com
(20) Encountering and refuting misrepresentations of the past online (Interviewed by Maurice Casey for History to the Public, 21 January 2015)
With the advent of social media, sharing, discussing and absorbing historical knowledge has become easier than ever…historytothepublic.org
(21) Open letter to Irish Central, Irish Examiner and Scientific American about their “Irish slaves” disinformation (signed by over 80 academics and historians)
Where my work has been cited or quoted
(22) Contesting “White Slavery” in the Caribbean: Enslaved Africans and European Indentured Servants in 17th-Century Barbados. (J. S. Handler & M. Reilly) New West Indian Guide. June 2017 (vol. 91)
In Press (J. S. Handler & M. Reilly) " Contesting "White Slavery" in the Caribbean: Enslaved Africans and European…jeromehandler.org
(23) Modern Slavery: The Margins of Freedom (Palgrave, 2015) by Julia O’Connell Davidson (see page 89)
Providing a unique critical perspective to debates on slavery, this book brings the literature on transatlantic slavery…www.palgrave.com
(24) “Slave to the Facts”: Where there Irish slaves in Early America?: Cited in a Snopes article by David Emery
Early in America's history, white Irish slaves outnumbered black slaves and endured worse treatment at the hands of…www.snopes.com
(25) “Black Lives Matter and the ‘Irish slave’ myth”: Quoted in an Al Jazeera article by Norma Costello
This year, as acting Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny meets Barack Obama at the annual St Patrick's Day dinner, talk of…www.aljazeera.com
(26) “Let’s Squash the Myth That the Irish Were Ever American Slaves”: Quoted in a Jezebel article by Madeleine Davies
Éirinn go Brách and Happy Saint Patrick's Day to my fellow children of the Emerald Isle! From oppression by the British…pictorial.jezebel.com
(27) “Debunking a Myth: The Irish Were Not Slaves, Too”: Interviewed for a New York Times article by Liam Stack
Without a doubt, life was bad for indentured servants. They were often treated brutally. Not all of them entered…www.nytimes.com
(28) “The curious origins of the ‘Irish slaves’ myth”: Interviewed for a Public Radio International article by Natasha Varner
Irish Americans were slaves once too - or so a historically inaccurate and dangerously misleading internet meme would…www.pri.org
(29) “Sinn Féin not allowing facts derail good ‘Irish slaves’ yarn”: Interviewed for an Irish Times article by Hugh Linehan
Senior members of Sinn Féin have in recent weeks continued to promote a discredited historical narrative which has also…www.irishtimes.com
(30) “Slavery Myths Debunked”: Quoted in Slate article by Jamelle Bouie and Rebecca Onion
A certain resistance to discussion about the toll of American slavery isn't confined to the least savory corners of the…www.slate.com
(31) “The Myth of Scottish Slaves”: Cited in a Sceptical Scot article by Stephen Mullen
'The gentleman - at times rocking backwards and forwards in his seat, desperate to be heard - finally revealed the…sceptical.scot
(32) “5 Myths About Slavery”: Cited in a History.com blog by Sarah Pruitt
Print Cite Article Details: For nearly a century following the end of Reconstruction, many Americans grew comfortable…www.history.com
(33) “Racial tensions of 2016 and the myth of Irish slavery”: cited by Tom Deignan in NJ.com
There has been much sound and fury on the Internet in recent weeks regarding a topic thought to be consigned to the…www.nj.com
(34) “‘Irish slaves’: Historian destroys racist myth conservatives love to share on Facebook”: Quoted in a RawStory article by Travis Gettys
White supremacists have been promoting the myth that the first slaves brought to the Americas were Irish, not African …www.rawstory.com
(35) “The “Irish slaves” meme”: Video by the Unemployed Historian which cites my research
Posts about Liam Hogan written by theunemployedhistoriantheunemployedhistorian.com
(36) “Why are people still defending slavery in America? 5 common excuses, debunked”: Cited in Vox article by Victoria M. Massie
From Bill O'Reilly's "slaves were well-fed" to the myth of Irish slaves.www.vox.com
(37) “Free us from the myth of Irish slavery”: Cited in an Irish Times article by Donald Clarke
Imagine that, last Monday, the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia became a giant comic book. The frame…www.irishtimes.com
(38) “Irish slave myths debunked”: Quoted in a Boing Boing article by Rob Beschizza
White supremacists (and vaguely racist uncles on Facebook) occasionally pipe up with the idea that the Irish were…boingboing.net
(39) “Jim Goad compares Black-on-White Violence to the Lynching of Emmett Till”: Cited in an Angry White Men article
On the January 15, 2017 broadcast of Red Ice Radio, Taki Magazine's Jim Goad made a guest appearance to discuss the…angrywhitemen.org
(40) “Wilful ignorance and Irish slavery”: Cited in the Skeptophilia blog
Prompted by yesterday's post regarding the tendency of some people to amplify their feelings into facts (and in the…skeptophilia.blogspot.ie
(41) “FactCheck: No, “Irish slaves” did not build the White House”: Quoted in theJournal.ie article by Dan MacGuill
FactCheck debunks a false claim that has gone viral after a major speech by Michelle Obama, last night.www.thejournal.ie
(42) “Professor Buzzkill #112: Irish Slaves Myth”: Cited in podcast
The Irish slaves myth claims that Irish people were enslaved by the British and sent to the Americas (especially the…professorbuzzkill.libsyn.com
(43) How to Change History: William Petty, Irish slavery, and a fake debate: Cited in Dr. Ted McCormick’s blog series
Treating debunked pseudo-history and personal attacks as legitimate criticism of historical research is bad enough on…memoriousblog.wordpress.com
(44) Slaves to a Myth: Cited in Prof. Bryan Fanning’s article in the Dublin Review of Books
The fatal shooting of Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9th, 2014 led to the…www.drb.ie
(45) Kanye West’s ignorant slavery comments play right into the hands of white supremacists: Cited in an NBC News op-ed by Sophia Nelson
Clearly, Kanye West doesn't know his history. Because anyone who does believe that slavery was a choice, despite…www.nbcnews.com
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