Introduction to Slavery
Slavery was all throughout the colonies from 1619 to 1770. But when slavery
started, it was mostly focused in Virgina and the southern colonies. Slavery was
mostly focused there because in the south there was better soil to grow crops
like tobacco, indigo, and rice. The first 20 slaves were brought into Jamestown,
Virgina in 1619 to grow those crops on plantations. As more slaves were brought over
into the colonies they were kidnapped from their homes in Africa by fellow
africans, sold to slave traders, taken on the most horrible times of their lives
on the slave ships. They were thrown under the deck in rows side by side so they
could barely move. The food portions were very little, and
there was no cleanliness. People were going to the bathroom, giving birth, throwing up, and even
dying all over and around them. If you were on the bottom you were most likely
to die first. If any of the slaves tried to commit suicide by jumping over
board, or not eating, the slaves traders would catch them and torture them. They
would whip the slaves all over their backs, pour extremely hot tar all over them
and many more things. Those were only some of the terrors the slaves had to
face. There were even more when they got to the colonies.
started, it was mostly focused in Virgina and the southern colonies. Slavery was
mostly focused there because in the south there was better soil to grow crops
like tobacco, indigo, and rice. The first 20 slaves were brought into Jamestown,
Virgina in 1619 to grow those crops on plantations. As more slaves were brought over
into the colonies they were kidnapped from their homes in Africa by fellow
africans, sold to slave traders, taken on the most horrible times of their lives
on the slave ships. They were thrown under the deck in rows side by side so they
could barely move. The food portions were very little, and
there was no cleanliness. People were going to the bathroom, giving birth, throwing up, and even
dying all over and around them. If you were on the bottom you were most likely
to die first. If any of the slaves tried to commit suicide by jumping over
board, or not eating, the slaves traders would catch them and torture them. They
would whip the slaves all over their backs, pour extremely hot tar all over them
and many more things. Those were only some of the terrors the slaves had to
face. There were even more when they got to the colonies.
A black American writer, J. Saunders Redding, describes the arrival of a ship in
North America in the year 1619:
"Sails flured, flag dropping at her rounded stern, she rode the tide in from the sea. She was a strange ship, indeed, by all accounts, a frightening ship, a ship of mystery. Whether she was a trader, privateer, or man-of-war no one knows. Through her bulwarks black-mouthed cannon yawned. The flag she flew was dutch; her crew a motley. Her port of call, an English settlement. Jamestown, in the colony of Virgina. She came, she traded, she shortly afterwards was gone. Probably no ship in modern history has carried a more portentous freight. Her cargo? Twently slaves."
North America in the year 1619:
"Sails flured, flag dropping at her rounded stern, she rode the tide in from the sea. She was a strange ship, indeed, by all accounts, a frightening ship, a ship of mystery. Whether she was a trader, privateer, or man-of-war no one knows. Through her bulwarks black-mouthed cannon yawned. The flag she flew was dutch; her crew a motley. Her port of call, an English settlement. Jamestown, in the colony of Virgina. She came, she traded, she shortly afterwards was gone. Probably no ship in modern history has carried a more portentous freight. Her cargo? Twently slaves."