![]() While at the beginning this was not a racial system of slavery, in the 1640s and 1650s states began to make a clearer distinction between indentured servants and slaves, and for the first time Africans were held in lifelong bondage instead of temporary servitude. The 1619 date is when the first African slaves arrived in the British colonies, captured from a Portuguese slave ship and brought to Jamestown by English privateers. Other argue that 1619 is as foundational a date as 1607 (Jamestown), 1620 (the Puritans), or 1776. In addition, there is the argument that through the first few decades of the British colonies black and white men worked side-by-side as indentured servants and received similar treatment. When looking at what would become the continental United States, the Spanish introduced African slaves into present day South Carolina and Florida by the mid-1500s. ![]() After the Spanish arrived in the Americas, they began to enslave the indigenous population and in the early 1500s the first African slaves were imported by the Spanish to supplement Native labor. ![]() There has been some pushback about the significance of 1619, since slavery and African slavery had been in the Americas prior to that point. ![]() ![]() 2019 marks 400 years since the first slaves were brought to what would become the United States of America (aka the British colonies). This year the United States is marking a sometimes overlooked, but historically significant anniversary. ![]()
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