Mayo talk about historical Irish links to slavery

DR. Michael O’Connor will give a talk about his most recent book, Caribbean Slave Owners & Other Lesser-Known Histories from County Mayo, at the Irish History Bookshop in Cong at 8 p.m. this evening (Wednesday, July 27). There will also be a small exhibition of the original documents used in the preparation of the book.

Michael, a native of Mayo, is also the author of Anatomy of a County Gaol - County Mayo, A History of Imprisonment, Capital Punishment & Transportation. A lawyer by profession, he has an interest in social history, crime and punishment, public institutions, women and the law, and the history of slavery.

In 2017 he set up the County Mayo History & Heritage Group on Facebook which now has 17,000 members around the world.

Caribbean Slave Owners & Other Lesser-Known Histories from County Mayo features 20 short histories which explore wide-ranging, but in many cases, closely interrelated themes, including colonialism, slavery, abuse of power, religious persecution, famine, military and police killings of civilians, the emergence of a free press in Mayo, and Mayo's position in the wider Atlantic Basin in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Admission to the talk is free of charge and all are welcome to attend. Refreshments will be served.

Further information is available from IrishHistoryBookshop.ie.

The Irish History Bookshop is a specialist bookshop dealing primarily in books related to history, particularly Irish history. It is located at Main Street in Cong.