Racial Identity
The name "Black Morrow" is assumed to derive from the term "Blackamoor" referring to the Moors of North Africa and Spain. As the date of the incident is not specified in the earliest surviving accounts it is not possible to know whether this implies that Black Morrow was an actual Moor or whether the name was intended to refer to his swarthy skin or barbarous reputation, perhaps analogous to "Black Douglas". Some accounts refer to him as "Irish" and others as a "gypsy".
Some writers in the 19th century attempted to use the story as evidence of native racial diversity in Britain. David MacRitchie argued that Black Morrow was probably a gypsy, but claimed that the gypsies were not immigrants but ancient Britons from a primeval dark-skinned race.
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