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Nov 21, 1547
Forced labor on British poor and criminals
To address a sudden explosion of crime and poverty, England's rulers forced the poor to toil in workhouses, and beginning in, enslaved persistent vagabonds and branded them with the letter "s". -
First Act of Slavery in thge Americas
In 1619, twelve years after its founding, the british colony of James town, Virginia received a Dutch vessel whose crew was starving. Aboard were twenty captured Africans, whom the crew exchanged for food and money. Thus slavery came to British North America -
Examination of early slave documents
Indication by surviving wills, inventories, deeds and other documents that in some instances it was considered "customary practice to hold some Negros in a form of life service." It should be noted that by examining these documents it was also found that some blacks were able to hold on to their status of being indentured servents, thus, eventually gaining freedom. -
Period: to
16th-17th century slave population
As late as 1640, there were probably only 150 blacks in Virginia (the colony with the highest black population), and in 1650, 300. But by 1680, the number had risen to 3,000 and by 1704, to 10,000. -
No freedom from Baptism
Baptism does not bring freedom.Until the General Assembly outlawed it, baptism could be the grounds for a black slave to obtain his/her freedom. It was considered for a period of time that it was not proper for a Christian to enslave a fellow Christian. -
Ending of the Royal African Company
After 1698, when British ended the Royal African Company's monopoly of the slave trade, the number of enslaved Africans brought into the colonies soared. -
The Stono Rebellion
Near a hundred slaves started a march that came from the Stono River in St. Paul's Parish and ended les than twenty miles from Charlestown. Gathering up firearms and ammunition, the group of slaves had killed between and twenty and twenty-five whties. This rebellion created the Negro Act which limited the privileges of slaves. -
18th Century Slave population
By the mid-18th century, blacks made up almost 70 percent of the population of South Carolina, 40 percent in Virginia, 8 percent in Pennsylvania, and 4 percent in New England. -
The Zanj
In 869, in what is now Southern Iraq, the Zanj (who came from the Swahili coast and lands further north) workedin large gangs draining marshlands. The Medieval Arabs came to associate the most degrading forms of labor with slaves.