By SheelaR
I’m half descended from Irish immigrants, so I feel like I can say this…
Dear Irish People,
Please stop comparing your ancestors experience with indentured & penal servitude with that of my african ancestors, who endured hundreds of years of chattel slavery by European slave traders. You’re entitled to own the atrocities that the Irish endured, but you don’t get to draw lines of comparison with those of african ancestry. There is no comparison. You don’t have a clue. Instead of repeating ignorance about slavery that you’ve casually learned from friends, family, and Google scholars…go to the library; it will change your life.
This “What about us” mentality is getting old. As much as I love my Irish ancestry, I’m growing tired of the willful ignorance that so many of Irish ancestry seem to wallow in when it comes to slavery. I’ve attached several links below. The is no rhyme or reason to be ignorant of well-documented history in 2016, especially if you’re going to have an opinion about it…
1444 – First slaves brought to Portugal from northern Mauritania
1444-5 – Portuguese make contract with Sub-Saharan Africa 1471 – Portuguese arrive in the Gold Coast
1482 – Portuguese begin building Elmina Castle on the Gold Coast
1488 – Bartholomew Diaz goes round the Cape of Good Hope
1490 – First Portuguese missionaries go to Congo
1500 – Sugar plantations established on island of Sao Tome two hundred miles from coast of West Africa 1510 – First slaves shipped to Spanish colonies in South America via Spain
1516 – Benin ceases to export male slaves, fearing loss of manpower
1518 – First direct shipment of slaves from Africa to the Americas
1780’s – Slave trade at its peak
1652 – Dutch establish colony at Cape of Good Hope, South Africa
1700 – Asanti begin to consolidate power
1720’s – Kingdom of Dahomey expands
1776-1783 – American War of Independence
1787 – ‘Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery’ by Quobna Ottobah Cugoano published by the Foundation of the Society for the Abolition of Slave Trade
1789 – French Revolution. ‘Life of Olaudah Equiano’ published
1791 – Slave uprising in Haiti (Saint Domingue) led by Toussaint L’Ouverture
1804 – Danes pass law against slave trade Haitian independence
1807 – British law passed declaring buying, selling and transporting slaves illegal (ownership continues)
1808 – North America abolish slave trade
1814 – Dutch outlaw slave trade
1834 – British law passed declaring ownership of slaves illegal
1839 – Amistad slave ship rebellion
1848 – French abolish slavery
1860-65 – American Civil War
1865 – 13th Amendment abolishes slavery in America 1869 – Portugal abolishes slavery
1886 – Slavery abolished in Cuba
1888 – Slavery abolished in Brazil
1873 – Slave market in Zanzibar closed
1936 – Slavery made illegal in Northern Nigeria
An open mind is more conducive to learning than a closed one.
Thoughts of a Wordinary Girl 
Thank you…
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Ditto!
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