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Were African slaves the first source of labor in the English colonies?

Few African slaves were actually used as laborers in the English colonies during the early seventeenth century. Although twenty Africans were sold at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619, some were indentured servants who were granted their freedom and awarded a plot of land after working a specified length of time for their employers. In fact, a small class of "free Negroes" eventually became respected landowners in colonial Virginia.

Initially plantation owners in the South tried to enslave Native Americans, who resisted forced labor. The plantation owners therefore relied increasingly on indentured servants, most of whom were impoverished English, Irish, Welsh, and German men who paid for their passage to America by agreeing to work from four to seven years. After working the required amount of time for a master, the servants gained...

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1. Christopher Columbus