African and Irish Relations in the Americas

Overview

There is a complicated and academically understudied history between African-descended peoples and Irish immigrants in the Americas. Both populations experienced the effects of colonization and displacement in their native lands and discrimination and exploitation in the “New World.” The web of relations between Africans and Irish people, however, was multifaceted. There are numerous examples of Irish-descended individuals who fell along the spectrum from enslavers to overseers to anti-slavery advocates to allies and countless other roles.

This module will employ a comparative lens and will be particularly focused on two Deep South cities in North America, New Orleans and Natchez, and a Caribbean island (TBD), all with vibrant Black and Irish populations. New Orleans contained the largest slave market in the 19th century US and a robust free Black population. Natchez, Mississippi held the second-largest slave market during the same period and the biggest population of free Black people in that state, although much smaller than New Orlean’s. All three places also had Irish immigrant communities. We will explore the linkages between Irish-descended immigrants and free and enslaved Africans and African Americans in these places to flesh out some of the intertwined dimensions of their relationships. The module will be informed by the growing historiography of this pointed topic while being grounded in the rich literature of studies of slavery and freedom in the regions. Students will heavily engage in rich and relevant primary source materials.

Learning Objectives

After completion of this module, students will have:
A broad understanding of major trends in the historiography of the patterns of forced and voluntary migration to the Deep South and Caribbean and the development of these regions into slave societies.
An understanding of the intricacies of relationships between Africans and Irish-descended people within these societies.
An understanding of the socially-constructed and shifting nature of racial and ethnic ideology in these locales in the Americas.

Skills

Students will speak and write with fluency about the key developments within this historiographical field.
Students will analytically review a relevant book in this field.
Students will critically evaluate primary documents and understand their importance for reconstructing the past.
Students will assess the quality of a range of online resources and make use of them in an historical essay.
Students will recognize and evaluate interpretive differences in historical writing on the subject.
Students will plan and implement an extended research project on a centrally related theme.

Assessment

None