Beyond the Pale: Black Lives and Hidden Histories in Ireland

This talk by Dr Phil Mullen will uncover the long and largely unknown history of Black people in Ireland, from mythology and prehistory to Viking times and the twentieth century. It will take audiences from Trá na Mná Gorm (the Beach of the Black Women) in County Waterford, in 862, to the village of Blackskull in County Down, in more recent times, using place names, archives and personal stories to bring this history to life. 

It includes the story of a celebrated Black soprano who wowed audiences in Britain and Ireland in the 1700s; an ebullient Belfast rate collector and restaurateur who became a well-known public figure before being caught up in an international insurance scandal; and the extraordinary story of a Nigerian prince who studied medicine at Queen’s University Belfast in the 1940s, broke high jump records, and represented Britain at the 1948 Olympics. The talk will also touch on lesser-known but remarkable moments such as an infamous abortion case in 1940s Belfast involving a figure later fictionalised by a world-renowned author, and whose peregrinations the length of the island landed him in no small amount of bother. 

This, and much more, is Irish history told from another angle—where Black lives are not added on but placed back where they always were: at the centre of the story. 

Dr Phil Mullen is Assistant Professor/Coordinator of Black Studies, and Deputy Director of the M.Phil in Gender, Race and Conflict, Department of Sociology, at Trinity College Dublin. Her early career was spent working in the NGO-sector, a great deal of which was with the Irish Traveller Movement (ITM). Former member of the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI) and the Irish representative on the European Network against Racism (ENAR). Trustee of the Association of Mixed Race Irish (AMRI), member of African Scholars Association of Ireland (AFSAI), and a member of the UN IDPAD steering committee set up to work with the Irish state to implement programmes for the Decade of People of African Descent 2015-2024. Ministerial appointee to the National Advisory Committee on the Restitution and Repatriation of Cultural Heritage board. Board member Skein Press. Research focuses on Africans and people of African descent in Ireland, using Black Studies and decolonial perspectives to move the concept of being Black in Ireland beyond the migratory lens, to embrace a more in-depth analysis of sociohistorical strands and intercommunal framing of what it means to be Black in 21st century Ireland.

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