1619 marks an important date in the history of Blacks in America - the arrival of the first 20 Africans brought to North America. They were captured by Portuguese slavers in the Ndongo Kingdom in what is now Angola, and were then stolen by English privateers and brought to Point Comfort, Virginia, where they were sold for food and supplies. That much is generally agreed on by historians. What is not as clear is the exact legal status of those Africans, both at the time and as we view them 400 years later.
By the time of the American Revolution in 1776, slavery was an established institution in the American Colonies. Many of the "founding fathers" of the United States held enslaved individuals, and disagreements about the institution of slavery were part of the development of the United States Constitution. But between 1619 and 1776, what happened? And what was the status of Blacks in the colonial period? A number of publications, websites, and other resources have attempted to pull together what is known and put it into context. One of the best known - and most controversial - is the New York Times Newspaper's 1619 Project, begun by reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones.
A somewhat different view of the arrival is taken by the similarly-named Project 1619, a grassroots organization based in Hampton, Virginia. According to the founders of Project 1619, "There is an ongoing discussion as to whether the first Africans who were brought here in 1619 were slaves or indentured." Project 1619 focuses on the experiences of the "20 and Odd Africans" brought to Virginia, and
The following resources provide more information about both the initial arrival of Africans in 1619 and about the status of Blacks in colonial America:
Red, White and Black by 