page_title: Black people in Ireland
section_title: Northern Ireland
hierarchical_section_title: Black people in Ireland / Since Partition / Northern Ireland
context_page_description: Black African people have lived in Ireland in small numbers since the 18th century.
  They are mainly concentrated in the major cities and towns, especially in the Limerick, Cork and Dublin areas. During the 18th century, many worked as servants of wealthy families. Former slaves who visited or toured Ireland included Olaudah Equiano and Frederick Douglass.
  Lord Edward FitzGerald was saved in 1781 by Tony Small, a freed slave, after the Battle of Eutaw Springs. Small returned with Lord FitzGerald to Ireland, and in 1786 his portrait was painted by John Roberts.
  Enslavement of blacks was rare in Ireland during the 18th century, although the legal position remained unclear until a judgement in England in 1772, the Somersett's Case. Others were tradesmen, soldiers, travelling artists or musicians. They were never very numerous, and most were assimilated into the larger population by the second third of the 19th century. They include the rebel Mulatto Jack, the singer Rachael Baptist, who were both Irish. Other such as Osmond Tisani were born abroad but settled in Ireland.
context_section_description: At the time of the 2001 UK Census, of the total population (1,685,267); 255 people described their ethnicity as Black Caribbean, 494 as Black African and 387 as Other Black, meaning that the total Black population was 1,136. These figures do not include individuals who described themselves as being of mixed-race. The UK census of 2011 recorded 3,616 Black people in Northern Ireland (0.2% of the total population). The next census will be in 2021.
  As well as help from the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, the EU-funded Afro-Community Support Organisation Northern Ireland (ACSONI) was formed in 2003 to represent the views of black people. ACSONI prepared a report in 2011 on other residents' perceptions and general knowledge of Africa and Africans.
caption: African American soldiers in Northern Ireland, 1942.
exif: {}