The first enslaved Africans arrived at Point Comfort on the Virginia Peninsula in 1619, representing a landmark in the long history of slavery in European colonies, and the beginning stages of what would become the institution of slavery in America.
This event also marked the beginning of the enforced migration of Africans to America and the subsequent breeding of enslaved African Americans. Travel, at its core, requires movement. Thus, this event marks a critical moment in the history of Black travel.
References:
- Painter, N. I. (2006). Creating Black Americans: African American history and its meanings, 1619 to the present. Oxford University Press, USA.
- Waxman, B.O. 2019. “The First Africans in Virginia Landed in 1619. It Was a Turning Point for Slavery in American History—But Not the Beginning.” Time.
- Williams, George Washington. History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880: Negroes as Slaves, as Soldiers, and as Citizens; Together with a Preliminary Consideration of the Unity of the Human Family, an Historical Sketch of Africa, and an Account of the Negro Governments of Sierra Leone and Liberia. Vol. 2. GP Putnam’s Sons, 1882.
- Serwer, Adam. 2019. “The Fight Over the 1619 Project Is Not About the Facts.” The Atlantic.
Photo:
- The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. “Landing negroes at Jamestown from Dutch man-of-war, 1619.” New York Public Library Digital Collections.