Africans Arrive in Virginia
At a glance:
- Series: Great Events from History: North American Series
- Categories: Social Issues, Reform, and Protest, Economics
- Subcategories: Colonialism, Colonies, Settlements, African Americans, Blacks, Race, Ethnicity, Racism, Civil Rights, Minority Rights, Minorities, Trade, Commerce, Slavery, Slaves, Human Rights
- Curriculum: American Colonial History (1607-1775), African American History
- Geographical Location: Virginia
- Date: August 20, 1619
Article abstract: The beginnings of slavery in the British colonies.
Summary of Event
In August of 1619, a Dutch warship carrying “20 and odd” Africans landed at Point Comfort, Virginia. These Africans, the first to arrive in the British colonies, were probably put to work not as slaves but as servants. Neither the laws of the mother country nor the charter of the colony established the institution of slavery, although the system was developing in the British West Indies at the same time and was almost one hundred years old in the Spanish and...
[The entire page is 1306 words long]
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