=====

No, the first slaves shipped to the American colonies weren’t white Irish children

The day after a congressional hearing to discuss legislation that would create a commission to study reparations for African Americans, an old claim about white, Irish slaves gained steam.

"The first slaves shipped to the Americans Colonies in 1619 were 100 white children from Ireland," reads the text of an image shared on Facebook on June 20. "Truth matters."

The post, which features a black-and-white photo of three children, adds that the Irish arrived in the colonies "four months before the arrival of a the (sic) first shipment of black slaves."

"White slavery," it says, "history denied, covered up, & marginalized."

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

That’s because it’s not true.

Leslie Harris, a history professor at Northwestern University, told PolitiFact the claim is "part of an attempt by several groups of people to claim that Irish people were enslaved in the Americas before and in excess of the numbers of people of African descent."

But Irish people were not enslaved in the Americas, she said, and people of African descent "far outnumbered European migrants to the Americas before the 19th century."

Continues:

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/jun/28/viral-image/no-first-slaves-shipped-american-colonies-werent-w/

*************************************************************