Who Are The Black Irish?
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- AussieMark
- blckirish
- blckirish
- ginamari
- Firbolg
- IRA666
- CHICAGOSTYLE
- irish7774
- chay98
- hakim9
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» AussieMark - Black Irish
My father and myself both have dark/black hair, blue eyes and olive skin and our ancestry is Irish/English-- posted by AussieMark
» blckirish - re:portugese black irish
In response to Re: Re: Re: Black Irish posted by CahillWhale:if you are american, then you are probably referring to the melungeons, supposedly portugese and turkish sailors shipwrecked on the carolina coast in 15oo's, moving into the hills, marrying native americans, remaining in appalchia. They called themselves "black irish" to avoid persecution for native blood/being moved west on the trail of tears to OK, with the rest of the indians etc. Many scots-irish later did settle in appalachia so they may have tried to say they were a branch of this group and as it was poor, isolated hill country maybe no one was checking too closely (remote enough many were running stills etc. without being found out etc.)they may have intermarried with the scots-irish appalchian settlers who knows. or it could be the scots irish settlers marrying indians.
as far as i can tell in the US if you are told you are black irish or black dutch it is to cover up native american ancestry so get a -lookin! it is hard tho people were putting themselves down on forms as white and using this term to protect themselves and their families.
http://www.rosecity.net/cherokee/blackdu...
-- posted by blckirish
» blckirish - genealogical black irish
When you mix very light genes (blond) with very dark genes (mexican, black irish etc.) you get bright red hair often. these people typically have black or very dark brown eyes, white skin and flaming red hair. usually they have an ivory/porcelain skin tone. i knew a girl named adriana cortez w/ this coloring she has the reddest hair in school and was hispanic. there is also a gary paulsen book about a kid in a border town with this coloring apparently it is a surprising but common result of blond and dark genes mixing.this explains why you have black, blond and red hair in ireland- the original inhabitants were small and dark haired and the later Vikings, Celts etc. Were tall and fair.
I think the original small dark inhabitants (picts?) possibly were a mongoloid strain similar to eskimo -they were using skin boats similar to Umiak and descriptions say they were short and dark haired, they were fishing, seal hunting and catching sebirds and eggs just like eskimo do - sea travel to iceland, greenland etc. the brendan voyage of 9th c or so is only ONE voyage we have record of (monks - the only record-keepers/literate of the time). My irish family look closest to eskimo than anything and also are prone to diabetes I wonder if it is because we are descended from these first eskimo-type irish who were mostly hunting and fishing protein foods, not the later irish with grains and dairy).
-- posted by blckirish
» ginamari - BLACK IRISH- A POSSIBILITY?
i am irish & italian. on my italian side light brown hair and hazel eyes runs in the family. on the irish side brown hair and very dark hair is what they all have. i have black hair, black eyes, and ivory skin. no freckles. do you think this could be black irish, because i rarely see irish people, besides my relatives, with such dark hair & eyes.-- posted by ginamari
» Firbolg - Re: Re: black irish
In response to Re: black irish posted by BlackIrish:These are quotes from an American physical anthropologist who investigated the subject in 1955 (The Physical Anthropology of Ireland, by Earnest A. Hooton) Harvard University:
"According to legend, Leitrim is the original home and the present residing place of the descendants of the Firbolgs. These people are described as being swarthy-skinned and dark-eyed, entirely different from other Irishmen. This was an area, then, to be carefully combed for these unusual types. Special efforts were made to visit the more inaccessible areas in the hope of finding at least a few of these brown-eyed people. However, very few brown eyes were to be found. Here, as elsewhere, the men were almost all light-eyed and had the usual dark hair".
"A day was spent working in the Claddagh, a fishing village, within the city limits of Galway. The people from the Claddagh had been described as dark Spanish types, perhaps unique specimens in the Irish population. After measuring a number of these fisherman, however, it became evident that they were not different physically from other Irishmen and that their eyes were just as blue."
"having pretty well covered the southern midlands, the survey moved on to County Waterford. There are a number of Irish-speaking villages on the coast of County Waterford which are of particular interest. On several occasions we were told that in one or two of these isolated localities the fishermen were dark and swarthy types. They were referred to as Turks by the people farther inland. Here at last, we thought, is what we have been looking for; a real inbred group of brunets who are perhaps the remnants of an ancient stock different from anything else we had seen in Ireland. The Civic Guards sergeant from a neighboring town felt that he had uncovered a real find and offered to accompany us to one of these small fishing villages. With great anticipation the measuring was begun. The first few men proved to have blue or at least very light eyes as did almost everybody else up to that point. We continued to measure and observe all the men that could be found in the village. Not a brown eye among them. The sergeant was dumbfounded. It had long been the belief that this group of people was different; most of the inhabitants of the surrounding area looked upon this group of people as foreigners, dark, swarthy people whose ancestors had come from over the seas. Here, then, was another local myth exploded, just as it had been in the Claddagh in Galway Town and in the fishing villages of County Clare where the people were supposed to have been largely the descendants of survivors of the Spanish Armada, which was reputedly wrecked off the west coast of Ireland." Replies welcomed.
-- posted by Firbolg
» IRA666 - The Black
Ruin and death have now come to an empire once sweetDarkness now shrouds that which once was built up from the sand
Now it's been trampled by prophets with unholy feet
Castles are ruined in what once was God's favorite land
Falled are we from the height that we once did ascend
Those in my bloodline were kings of that beautiful earth
In those days all were regarded as made from his hand
No one was low, and they all were a people of mirth
This was all true until death came on that fateful night
Deep in the dark they were driven to slave in the mines
Montserrat Helled them until they were all spent of their might
Now Shanty Micks were they called by the people of sin
Black are the Irish who worked in the mines of the dark
Whipped to their bones then alongside their African kin
Hell as they suffered has kindled a fierceness of heart
Now I must end with advice to the shallow and knaves
If you are shamed to look full upon faces like Che
Know that the island breeds terror to men who make slaves
Much like this fellow dead Celt who was killed out of hate
-- posted by IRA666
» CHICAGOSTYLE - BLACK IRISH
I am of black Irish decent. i have black/very dark brown wooly hair, olive skin tone, and dark brown eyes. i have been mistaken for hispanic, greek, italian, middle eastern, eastern european. pretty much everything under the sun. pretty much everyone in my family is of a darker complexion. when the celts made their way from the middle east where they originated most of them traveled right along the mediterranean then up into Ireland from France and Spain which were both celtic lands.-- posted by CHICAGOSTYLE
» irish7774 - Re: Black Irish - American myth
In response to Black Irish - American myth posted by Blarni:Black Irish is not an American invention, though we make speak more about it here. My Father, Grandmother (from Roscommon,Ireland), Uncle, Aunt, Cousin, 2 Brothers and my son all have thick black curly hair (both my father and son have wooly hair), brown eyes, and most have olive skin. My Grandfather (from Ireland also) had blue eyes, black hair and olive skin. Our family name Kerins which means "dark one" as in hair, skin and eyes. The name Doyle also means "dark one", there are a number of Irish surnames that refer to dark hair and eyes. These were initially nicknames, but they are so common that the common presence of dark hair, eyes and skin in Ireland prior to the 14th century is a virtual certainty.
I have read that the "Black Irish" are the descendants of the Danes who invaded Ireland and Scotland, the Danes being dark, where the other Scandinavian invaders were fair. Wherever they genes came from, these darker folks have long been a part of the Irish genetic landscape. Time to go brush my very dark, curly hair.
-- posted by irish7774
» chay98 - Re: Re: Black Irish - American myth
In response to BlarniI'm Irish born and bred,
I have a very large irish family, and we're irish as far back as we can see.
I have thick JET BlACK hair and blue eyes and so do nearly all my family and relations, me Ma has brown eyes and olive skin, so did her Ma.
I now live in England and get asked all the time where I originate from, that it is unusual to see someone with such black hair and blue not brown eyes, alot of people have asked if I am of spanish or even indian decent,
Coming from Ireland I know lots of people with exactly the same coloring, and I know when I see someone in England with black hair and blue eyes that chances are they originate or are probably are from Ireland.
Back home I am always told I have a typical Irish Colleen look, also many people think I am a traveller (as this is a Very Very common look/colouring in the irish travelling/gypsy community) I know alot of this could be to do with the Romany gypsy's coming over to Ireland a long time ago.
I've always heard the mix of such black hair and pale skin was probably due to the Spanish coming over to Ireland, But have also heard the theory that the original inhabitants of ireland were black haired and olive skined and that the pale skin came from the Vikings and celts coming over .
With such a strong mix in colouring It would be really interesing to see what results they would come up with if they did a genetics study in Ireland.
-- posted by chay98
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