can anyone tell me anything about the"black irish"people?that is some of my ethnic background?

Question

i know they were irish people that lived kind of up in the mountains...

Answer 1

The term Black Irish people refers to the possessing of dark hair and eyes as opposed to the caricature of Irish people with red hair, pale skin, and blue or green eyes, a difference which is possibly due to less Scandinavian or Germanic ancestry being found in people on the west of Ireland.

The myth of The Black Irish: Spanish syntagonism and prethetical salvation:
http://www.darkfiber.com/blackirish/

Answer 2

During the ice age, England and Ireland were not islands but were part of the land mass of Europe. As the ice cap was retreating and the water rising, the first Irish settlers moved across land bridges that were left exposed to escape growing oppression and forced servitude from England, Spain and France explaining the wide range of hair color, eye color, and skin tone. Their genetic make up was further complicated by Celts and Vikings later.

The Black Irish were so called because they were poor and considered less moral than others.

The English, even though the majority of Irish people moved to Ireland from England, considered the Irish to be an inferior race and captured and sold many Irish as slaves in the Caribbean and Australia. Most of these are assumed to have come from what was called the Black Irish population because they had no means to fend off or escape from the marauding English ships.

Answer 3

In 1588 the Spanish Armada sailed from Spain to defeat Great Britain. The Brits were far outnumbered and outclassed and were expected to be defeated in the English Channel but hurricane force winds blew the Spanish past their target. Most continued north to circle around England to avoid harsh winds and to regroup to attack later.

Thousands of Spanish sailors wound up shipwrecked and either drowned or were washed up on the NW shore of Ireland. Without a way to return to Spain, they stayed and eventually intermarried or went to the local pub for a few tankards of wine. There was no wine so they drank beer and danced with the young maidens until they dropped. The rest is history.

These darker skinned Mediterraneans were the cause of the term. Their offspring were the first "Black Irish."....habla espanol?

Read for yourself:

www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/10/messages/821.html

www.darkfiber.com/blackirish

www.bio.net/hypermail/genetic-linkage/1996-October/001142.html

Answer 4

Protestant, not Catholic. Literally very dark, near black hair. No blue eyes. Skin tone - really does not matter as some have Olive complexions and others have a clear light pink based complexion Some say there is Spanish blood behind the black Irish,, others say they came from other parts of Great Britain (makes more sense if you look at Scotland.

Answer 5

I happen to be a so-called black Irishman. I have the jet black hair and dark eyes. I have Brothers that look almost Hispanic. My Mother was of the type and she told us it was the Spanish blood in some of the Irish that resulted in our appearance such as it is.

Answer 6

There's nothing ethnically different about 'black Irish' at all. Any Irish forebears of yours that may have been on the wrong side of the law, and deported to the American or Australian colonies for a crime normally punishable by death was considered a 'blackgaurd' or other pejorative term. "Black Irish" is just another one of those.

Answer 7

Usually refers to Caucasian and another race. Not long ago, it meant a person who was half-white half-other.