Marker No. WT-1
James City County, VA
Marker Text: The first documented Africans in English America arrived at Jamestown in August 1619. A Dutch man-of-war captured them from the Spanish, who had enslaved them, and sold them to the Virginia colonists. The "twenty and odd" Africans, some of whom had been given Spanish names, may have been treated like indentured servants and later freed after their periods of servitude expired. From this beginning the institution of slavery evolved during the 17th century as the Virginia colonists extended the length of service for Africans from a fixed term to life. The United States abolished slavery in 1865.
Location: Marker is grouped with five other markers on Frontage Road paralleling Route 31 (Jamestown Road), 0.2 miles north of Route 359. The markers are north of the northern terminal for the Jamestown Ferry crossing the James River. Erected by the Department of Historic Resources in 1992.
This month is African-American History month and I will share some markers related to this month long observance. This marker actually commemorates a tragic day in the history of African-Americans when about 20 African-Americans arrived in the colonies and millions more who would follow, to be enslaved in the English Colonies and the United States during the next 247 years. In 1619, the first Africans were brought to Jamestown under what was presumed to have been indentured servitude. (An indentured servant would be required to work a set amount of time, then granted freedom.) Over the next few decades this would change to the enslavement of black Africans occurring one law at a time and one colony at a time.
