[Teague]

I’m an American of Irish descent and am always interested in this kind of subject. I have studied Ireland’s history quite a bit and I think the ‘Black Irish’ story is just an urban legend. Here’s what I know about it: In 1588, Catholic Spain was in a power struggle with Protestant England for global domination. The Irish, also Catholics, were bitter enemies to the English and had been catching Hell from their richer, stronger neighbors for already 300-some years. Hoping for some kind of salvation, they became commercial and military partners with England’s Catholic enemies, like France and Spain. The Spaniards and Irish wanted to establish a base in Ireland and use Spain’s wealth and power to destroy nearby England, but while the Spanish Armada was on its way up, storms wrecked the ships off various points on Ireland’s southern and west coasts. The survivors who made it to shore were mostly captured, robbed and killed by English and Irish alike. I’m sure some Spanish guys lived and I’ll bet several even mixed with the beautiful local colleens, but not enough to make a significant impact on Ireland’s genetic make-up. There is, however, another group that has been called ‘Black Irish’ (or ‘Black Scots’): mixed-race descendants of African and Irish/Scottish slaves. As the poorest and most disenfranchised white people in Europe, the Irish (and also their Celtic brothers, the Scots) were often derisively referred to by the English as ‘black’. In the old days, the English often sent their convicts, usually Irish or Scottish rebels, to work as indentured servants or slaves in the colonies of America or the Caribbean. These white slave men often intermarried with black (or Indian) slave women and their progeny assimilated into the local darker-skinned culture. Consider the Irish or Scottish origins of many of the surnames of well-known American or Caribbean black people: Shaquille O’Neal, Toni Morrison, Bob McAdoo, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Mariah Carey, Marcus Garvey, Bo Diddley (real last name McDaniels), Solomon Burke, Patrick Ewing, Bernie Mac (real last name McCullough), Tim Duncan, John Coltrane…

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Name : Teague, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 28, City : Portland, State : OR, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper class, 

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