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Africans in America:
Indentured Servants to Slaves
"Negro slavery was efficiently established in colonial America because Black slaves were governed, organized and controlled by the structures and organization that were first used to enslave and control Whites. Black slaves were 'late comers fitted into a system already developed.'"
(Michael Hoffman, They Were White and They Were Slaves and Ulrich B. Phillips, Life and Labor in the Old South, pp. 25, 26)
It is thought that slavery was quickly put into force by greedy landowners, but in reality, it happened gradually. A shift in labor began in the early 1700's. The birth rate in England declined, and wages were on the rise. The Industrial Revolution began and the economy in England boomed. Coupled with this was the need to rebuild following the Great Fire of 1666 in London. Workers were needed in Europe, so the migration to America declined as well as the pool of laborers to be contracted as indentured servants. There was an increased desire from English suppliers for slaves. Over the first 50 years of the 18th century slaves brought over by British ships rose from 5,000 to 45,000 a year.
One of the earliest records we have from history of an African in America is from the 1625 Virginia census. A man by the name of "Antonio the negro" was brought to the colony in 1621 and by law he was defined as not a slave but as a servant. Antonio later changed his name to Anthony Johnson and actually had a family of his own, owned his own land and cattle, and even had his own indentured servants. It is important to note that of the 20 African men and women free at this time in the colony, 13 of them owned their own homes.
In 1640, a servant who fled from Virginia named John Punch was "sentenced to serve his natural life" and became a slave. (PBS online, From Indentured Servitude To Racial Slavery.) Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1narr3.html
In 1641, Massachusetts became the first colony to legalize slavery and Virginia soon followed deciding in 1662 that all children born to women who were enslaved would automatically be enslaved as well. This shows that slavery was now something that could be passed down from generation to generation.
As for Anthony Johnson, 5 years before his death he moved to Maryland to lease a 300 acre plantation in 1665. That same year, a jury in Virginia decided that the land Johnson left behind could be seized by the government because he was born a negro.
Here is an excellent video to watch on the progression of indentured servitude into what is now known as the history of American slavery. This is a clip from the 6 hour PBS series "African in America: America's Journey through Slavery." "It chronicles indentured servitude in America showing how it all started with white indentures, to both white and black indentures, and finally, to the cessation of white servitude as black servitude moves from consisting of a period of years to a lifetime." (Youtube.com (2000). Africans In America: Indentured Servants.) Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0iDeRfcCWM