The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #64952   Message #1354077
Posted By: number 6
11-Dec-04 - 01:15 PM
Thread Name: Folklore: Black Irish: Etymological Consensus?
Subject: RE: Folklore: Black Irish: Etymological Consensus?
Back in the mid 1800's there was an Irish secret society called the 'Whiteboys' who opposed and wreaked revenge on protestant landowners, specifically those who fenced off what was designated as common land (land granted for use to Catholics). Those Catholic Irish that collaborated with the Protestant Landowners , or refushed membership in the Whiteboys were labeled 'Blackfeet'. This could possibly have some meaning to the term Black Irish'.