Irish peasants emigrated under conditions comparable to American slavery

Evidence

The Irish who emigrated to America in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were fleeing caste oppression and a system of landlordism that made the material conditions of the Irish peasant comparable to those of an American slave. They came to a society in which color was important in determining social position. It was not a pattern they were familiar with and they bore no responsibility for it; nevertheless, they adapted to it in short order. — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 32

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth chasing: how structurally comparable were the material conditions of the Irish peasant and the American slave, and does that equivalence hold up to scrutiny?
• XREF: connects to: Early Irish immigrants worked in conditions resembling slave labor — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 33; Racism against Europeans like the Irish predated color-based slavery; Irish peasants were hunted and sold into indentured servitude in Barbados — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 587 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Irish peasants were hunted and sold into indentured servitude in Barbados #exemplifies (0.90) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 587
• Racism against Europeans like the Irish predated color-based slavery #qualifies (0.80)