The Blog

2021-

2021-07-11 c
THE STATE OF THE DISUNION III

Regarding the 1619 Propaganda Project:

To be clear, it was not the official policy of the King of England nor of any of his advisors, nor of the Virginia Company, itself, to promote slavery – whether of white or black people. The issue of how to acquire the labor needed to sustain colonial Virginia was worked out independently – but with awareness and tacit approval of distant heads-of-state. Therefore, by 1619, it was perfectly acceptable for the colonial governor of Virginia, George Yeardley, as well as other colonists who could afford them, to own white, British-born slaves (indentured servants). Some colonists also kept slaves captured from native American tribes.

The arrival in Virginia of black, African-born people to work as slaves occurred almost accidentally. A Dutch ship, the White Lion, captained by an English privateer, intercepted a Portuguese slaver bound for Veracruz and took twenty-one Africans as booty. The ship sailed for Virginia where the captain, John Colyn Jope, bartered the Africans for food and supplies from the colonists. The Africans were treated no better yet no worse than the white “indentured servants”. Two of the Africans were permitted to marry and, 4 years later, produced the first black child born in North America (considered a free black at that time).

— Heydrich

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