Irish peasants were hunted and sold into indentured servitude in Barbados

Evidence

Somewhat less onerous [than African slavery], but still quite oppressive, was the system of indentured slavery of Europeans, forced in one way or another into the colonies whether on the mainland or in the islands. Writing of this, the Jesuit priest, Joseph J. Williams, relates how Irish peasants were “hunted down as men hunt down game, and were forcibly put on board ship, and sold to the planters of Barbados.” — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 587

Categorization

• SHARE: A stark detail worth sharing with anyone studying colonial labor history—the continuum from European indenture to African chattel slavery.
• CANDY: The image of Irish peasants ‘hunted down as men hunt down game’ is a striking, self-contained anecdote for conversation.
• XREF: connects to: Irish peasants emigrated under conditions comparable to American slavery — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 32