What does 'Black Irish' mean?

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Irish people with unexpectedly (for Americans especially) dark hair and sometimes eyes. Don't fit the stereotype. Ironically, a large group of Irish. http://www.answers.com/topic/black-irish

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I have been to Ireland several times and I must note that "Black Irish" is most definitely a term used by the native population. However I must agree with the majority of posts in saying that background information on the phrase is unclear at best. Stories told in Ireland about the background of the term varied widely and encompassed most of those related here, although the "Spanish Armada Shipwreck" story was by far the most popular. I inquired quite a bit about this because I noticed that on some occasions locals would refer to a black haired or dark complexioned individual as a "gypsy" and then other black haired or dark complexioned people as "Black Irish" and was quite confused about how they were being categorized. My confusion centered on the fact that "gypsy" was used as a derogatory term and "Black Irish" was simply a descriptor. I was later informed that "gypsies" were immigrants from Europe and "Black Irish" were black haired Irish people. I actually used the term "gypsy" when referring to someone and was told by an Irish relative that the person was not a "gypsy" but was "Black Irish," and that I should use caution when using that term in public. Needless to say I am still confused.

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In the 1700s Irish protestants and British formed a vigilante military called the"Orangemen" to keep the Roman Catholic Irish subserviant. The Roman Catholic Irish countered by starting their own military called the "White boys". Any Roman Catholic Irish that chose not to defy the orangemen or joined the whiteboys were known as the "black irish" of which most immigrated to North America. It has nothing at all to do with ones complexion, hair or eye colour.

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C?Chonnacht is the region known for the term "Black Irish". Dark haired people with unblemished, white skin and blue or hazel eyes. Supposedly descended from the Spanish Gaels of the Armada shipwrecked in Galway Bay during the latter 16th century. Genetically impossible to have descended from these people with such a small gene pool. Native Irish don't recognise this term "Black Irish or Black Scots". Original inhabitants of Ireland were known to have dark hair, as archaeological digs of Bronze Age ruins and peat bog mummies show. Genetics of the native Irish hair didn't begin to change until the invasions of the Vikings and the Anglo-Saxons. The Chonnacht O'Connor side of my family are referred to as "Black Irish", while the McCords and Mabees are referred to as "Black Scots". Possible Roman and Iberian influence to create the unfreckled, dark tanning skin, but no research with merit exist.

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I have been called this by many blond or red headed Irish in the Boston, MA area. My family is from Dublin and Belfast and are Protestant origin from Scotland. Over time they intermarried so some have traces of red or blond hair (often full red heads if they marry red haired people. Most of us are black haired. I don't think of it so much as the Spanish interbreeding as much as it being a "blaggard" label since the black haired Scotch were probably lowland Scotch?English on the Plantation in the North displacing the natives.

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Black Irish are distinctive enough to be classified as far outside the normal range of any northern-European ethnic group in that they are born with perfectly jet-black hair which is generally straight or only slightly curled. Also, almond-shaped eyes are seen occasionally among the Irish. For instance; Frank McCourt reported that his schoolmates used to tease him, calling him ?squint-eyed Jap.? You?d think someone would put two and two together, especially since every now and then Asian women--many of whom never saw a white man in their lives--living in remote parts of Western China and Outer Mongolia to this day sometimes give birth to blue-eyed babies, and sometimes even babies with red hair and freckles.

If that isn?t enough, however, recently archeologists have uncovered Celtic mummies buried in the deserts of Western China.

http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/features/1997/090997/mummies.html

It would be nearly impossible for a Celtic population, what with their horses and wagons and nomadic tendencies, not to have traded with the Chinese and establish colonies in far-off places, then routinely intermarry and take their families back to the west coast of Europe.

First answer by ID3514343962. Last edit by Fearganainm. Contributor trust: 122 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 141 [recommend question]