In history class, the teacher has taught students about African Americans being slaved back in the 1600's. African Americans are not the only one that has been slaved. The first group to be sold and traded as slaves were the Irish. Most people only know about the African Americans, and they have no clue that the Irish people were the first ones to be slaves. Therefore, African Americans should not be the only ones acknowledged as slaves. It's important for people to know how the Irish were treated, trade, and sold.
To start with, "The first recorded sale of Irish slaves was to a settlement in the Amazon in 1612, seven years before the first African slaves arrived in Jamestown" (The slaves that time forgot by gjohnsit. Web). Queen Elizabeth started the "Savage Program" by executing and enslaving the Irish. She was the first to order her knights to execute the Irish, and there were no loss of profit of having a killing spree of Irish people. Ever since, the Irish were not valued as the Africans that cost 50 sterling, and the Irish 5 sterling. King James II and Charles I, followed Queen Elizabeth footstep. Moreover, Cromwell perfected Queen Elizabeth "Savage Program" by reducing the population of Ireland. How did Cromwell reduce the population of Ireland? Cromwell targeted Ireland by exterminating any Irish that cross him. Yet, he got very repulsive by being cruel to anyone that was rebellious by confiscating their land, and sold them as slaves to the West Indies. The only advantage the Irish slaves had back then, was that they were used as house servants, accountants, and teachers, because they didn't function well outside in the field like the African Americans did. .
Furthermore, James II enforced a policy in 1625 called the Proclamation: where the Irish political prisoners were sent overseas, then sold to English settlers. The English settlers became the top consumers of Irish slaves "the biggest source of human livestock" (Martin).
