36,629 2,266 2,589. The comparison has perhaps best been summed up as so - the Irish are fire on the outside, steel inside. It is an island and has been invaded several times throughout its history, and all speak of the land being occupied. the world. I have very light color eyes that turn gray, orange, green and hazel. My mother was from the West where the predominant Catholics called the Protestants "Black Irish". The interpretations of the findings of DNA are just that 'interpretations' very contentious and very misleading. My cousin actually went to Ireland and traced our genealogy. Leprechaun lawn The Celtics had black hair and therefore are the true Irish. It should be noted that there hasn't been any proven theory as to how the black Irish came about. i have been told a couple times that i am dark skinned like tanned i suppose and my father's family are descendants of Ireland and Britain and my mother's are of Ireland Scotland Germany and Britain and my mom seems to think i could have black Irish in me because i am dark all year round, is this possible? He's often mistaken for Mediterranean descent. Historians have concluded that these group of invaders often Intermarried with the local Irish population and formed new groups. of a great movie, "The Commitments," in which a group of young people If your family history says your ancestors were from Ireland, well then, you have Irish ancestry. That is utter rubbish. Mental illness can be caused by a genetic defect that can be seen through brain imaging (MRI), the use of certain substances, certain vitamin deficiencies, and a traumatic experience of some kind (everyone reacts to trauma differently. She has black hair and brown hair. . If they are from Scotland, I guess youre Scottish and the same thing for the English, Welsh, etc. That said, imagine a group that broke off millennia ago from a larger group of Semitic languages to encounter and colonize the lands to the north and west. Do you see where I'm getting at, where the Irish became "the black irish"? The Moors overtook Ireland. My mom is too, but she dies her hair. The Irish potato famine was also a time of many deaths due to a disease known as Black Fever. Just to put my two cents in on black Irish, there are too many theories. I don't know about North Americans now days, but I do know that the term "black irish" has nothing to do with ethnicity, but rather nationality. My mom has thalassemia, as do other members of my family from my mom's Irish side. On the other hand, the Vikings were taller and pale skinned with most of the blue-eyed. an M.A. -Reddish to brownish hair (sometimes black) -Chubby round face -Generally, but not always, overweight Toby Keith and Larry The Cable Guy share these traits. The point is, it's something like the idea that having dark skin means your soul is white - like in William Blake's "The Little Black Boy". Caroline Keating, an expert in non-verbal communication at Colgate University in New York, told BBC Future, "The big eyes, the long lashes, the arched brows, the plump lips, the small chins, the . I happen to be fair-skinned because my father was although he had very thick, almost-black wavy hair. I think it's a person's heritage that is important, and not the color of anything on their body. Copy. "of an easily frightened angel," as Hemingway said. does that mean we have "blackscot" origin? wallow in your false pride! Black Irish has nothing to do with Africa or an African connection. Thank you. recognized in other countries." . He had curly black hair, clear, bright blue eyes. @Anon109506: The Irish experience you spoke of was more common in the northeastern U.S. There are records for this; it's not a mythical occurrence. They used this term to explain their dark looks and to avoid being removed to Indian Territory or stigmatized by Anglo-American society. Read my question and if you have an answer post it. our country is disgraced. That lasted several hundred years, plenty of time to infuse their genetic characteristics into the indigenous population of britons. But is that my race? I'm very proud to be Irish. Nothing Iberian about it. The term also might have originated in the West Indies, where some Catholics are believed to have used it to describe Protestant immigrants from Ireland. He has dark hair, darker skin and lighter eyes, while his brother looks the part of a full blooded Indian (NAtive American) and our daughters are light skinned, shaded hair, and blonde, with dark blue eyes. People who ignored the Whiteboy pressure and continued to engage in commerce with the provincial government became known as Black Irish. On the other hand my grandfather and I are the only ones with blue eyes and over 5 6in tall with very dark brown hair. The mutation that caused red hair is known as the MC1r variant, and first occurred between 40,000 and 60,000 years ago. The term "Black Irish" should be changed to "Moorish Irish". I have dark brown hair, hazel eyes, pale skin and freckles. The skin color is not the "dark" part, but the hair. Such features may also be genetically dominant to features . "Black Irish" refers to to moodiness of some Irish. Although most people in the modern-day Republic of Ireland can barely notice the difference among Caucasian Irish people based on their appearance, most foreigners especially Americans have a perception of how the Irish people look: Blond or red hair, freckled appearance on sunburns, blue or green eyes, and an averagely tall frame. Mom's accent changed late in life. my father is tanned all year round, that guy gets a tan in the winter, me though, i am not as dark as my father, but when i am in the sun i get an instant tan. The sculpture of King Dubh or King Kenneth Dubh was created during his time. But they look like a great people to me. Proud, double-chinned fathers Gene pool researchshows that some Irish males have a high concentration of the R1B haplogroup in their Y chromosome. The Spanish Armada thing is a myth, it has nothing to do with pigmentation. She liked to tell us that we were touched by fairies. So tan that in fact, I am often mistaken for being mixed black and white or Hawaiian. Just wanted to say that Amy Pollick #71 is so right! i am anon24687. original sin. What is it about Irish names, particularly boys' that may never have existed. Scots are the reverse. We truly are a stubborn bunch, and we probably won't admit that of course, because we're one of the common traits of Irish people is that we are pretty stubborn. Given that Celtic lanuages have as much in common with Semitic languages as with IndoEuropean languages, it is no great stretch to imagine an ancestral group with general coloring in line with Jews and Arabs. I am so grateful to have my DNA tests and to have some knowledge of where my ancestors come from. But regardless of that, the irish people are known to have come from spanish basque who emigrated to ireland thousands of years ago, hence most irish having dark features (75 percent of irish people have dark brown hair and eyes thanks to the basque invasion, 15 percent have blonde hair and 10 percent have red hair, thanks to the viking invasion). ones seem to have a wisdom -- they've seen the worst the world can dish It's not due to something that happened 2,500 years ago with Celts." The smarminess of the Irish Spring soap ads. It appears in Scotland from the number of Picts (Scots) who moved to Ireland before the roman conquest. To this day, most mulattos of the Island are loyal to their Irish roots and often celebrate the St. Patricks Day. Both were referred to as black Irish because of the fact they worked. The black population was largely genetically separate from populations that became white (Europeans). We are the only three in the whole family who have darker skin. In her younger years, my paternal grandmother could have easily passed for a Native American, but she looked just like her great-grandfather, who came over in the 1840s during the Great Famine. and they have children born here, though they are Americans, aren't they still Chinese, Japanese, Africans etc. The Gaelic word for foreigner is "gall" and for black (or dark) is "dubh.". color James Joyce described as "oakpale." It is obvious to any of us with Gypsy ancestors. Everyone seems to be missing the truth (despite the number of arrows fired). account in 1913 said: "His hair is of a fiery red, he is rosy-cheeked, The receptor protein-rogers2004:107, which is responsible for pale skin, took over as it is killed off in intense sun (Africa) and was necessary to allow the population to absorb sunlight to survive. Yes, she is of German ancestry, which is very interesting. Flat, merciless faces of mama's boys. I'm just learning about my background and -- wow. My grandmother said she was proud of her family and prouder to be called black Irish. brown hair, green eyes (that change color), and fairly pale skin. What Are Typical Irish Facial Features Irish Features? My grandparents tell me in old times there was a class system, and that's when the term started. The Black Irish - what are the truths and what are the myths? ecstatic; astringent as well as lyrical. one side of my mothers family had this stark look , and i have some of it. ", In the 18th century, Samuel Johnson said: "The Irish are a fair The people of Ireland, SW England and parts of Wales have a very strong similarity with Iberia from 7,000 to 15,000 years ago. If I were in your shoes, I'd make a shirt that says "Proud Black Man/Woman of Irish Heritage", that is, if you want to represent what you stand for. The suggestion of a Basque/Iberian is now known to be spurious. Some say they came from the Spanish Armada. Joffre Meyer from Tyler, TX on February 27, 2020: Thank you, Life and Luxury of South Beach, Florida! Africans and people who had dark features were often held in distaste and considered to be inferior. Donahue, Cardinal Spellman, Jimmy Cagney, Joe McCarthy, Jimmy Breslin, The reason I am interested in this is because when my sister was dying of cancer at Sloan Kettering, they discovered she had thalassemia, and asked us if we were Black Irish. I'm not saying its not a racial thing, but my family is white and from Ireland, and yet both sides of my family moved to get away from the problems going on at the time in Ireland. They are the Druids, and later the gypsies of Ireland, who lost their land, but retained a lot of Folk Lore. My My dads family bible goes back 400 years, with most of the writing in old Gaelic, and old French and English. he is the only one who took after his grandfather. Can you tell ethnicity by facial features? The Irish, too, have been compared to apes, suggesting that this comparison is a generalizable tactic of oppression, not one inspired by the color of the skin of Africans. Irish people are of all colors. anyway my skin is extremely pale, cause I tend to burn, so sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen. Do I have characteristics that favor the indian side or irish and with my descriptions, are we black irish? It was later against the law to breed Irish and African slaves because it cut into the profit of a major slave shipping company. im irish but i don't look like any of the other members of my family who have light eyes and light hair. Is it possible that because the gt grandparents settled in the 1850s by the Five Points area of NYC that they were labeled that way? How stupid are some people? My wife is Black Irish I believe. Irishman as "Thirty pounds of face and 40 pounds of liver.". They left Asia Minor and went all across North Africa. They moved to America for a better life, and were still called black Irish. An Alpine from the Black Forest, Baden. Michael Dawley. Seems no one really knows. their empty white skies) of hapless, sunstruck rebels about to be hanged The purest of these features can still be found in northern Wales and Cornwall. I've been doing some research myself on the Irish in general and their experiences around the world (UK, US, and Australia). I never heard of it until I asked what was he telling me. Faces that capture the ignorance and cynicism that is the mark of the oppressed. Fair skin and dark hair with Irish features. This would explain the dark features that can be commonly found in Irish people from remote North/South western Ireland this is the area that was least affected by the waves of colonisation by the Anglo Saxons and Norsemen. This type has dark brown hair, sometimes even jet black. You get the So where you lot get the hair and eye thing from, i dont know --but its not true. slow-witted Saxon, the most outrageous is the palming off on him of the Red hair was a mutation of the protein that normally expresses (genotype) as eumelanin, in the realm of the black/brown hair color. The grandsons are all brown haired and blue eyed, as Irish as they come. I have a very distinctive look with almost black hair and green eyes while the rest of my family has much lighter features. Our heritage helps us connect, and teaches us respect for others as well as for ourselves. the national peculiarity of features, and by this they are readily Back home in Syracuse, my Melancholy . He is of Native American and Irish decent. Not only that, but her band name is very Irish-sounding (banshee, anyone?) The Beautiful Siouxsie Sioux. And aren't my Indo-European ancestors from the place currently known as the Middle East? The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. I have blue/green eyes but very dark features. I have Irish eye shape as well, more obvious when I was a young child. They are a mix of parents from two different countries. if you look at shows about the subject eg, black donnellys, its backs this up, not sure why though. The first brits and celts were the basques as they settled the british isles and ireland. The ultimate travesty was once known as the stage Irishman. I thought "Dark Irish" refers to those as having very fair skin yet dark hair and blue, green or hazel/brown eyes. I do not agree that the term "Black Irish" was used to describe people with darker features. She was adopted, but her Mother always told her she was 100% Irish from what they knew about her birth mother. That is what that is. God bless every one of you. 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