The first enslaved Africans in the current boundaries of the United States landed in 1526 in the expedition of Spanish explorerLucas Vázquez de Ayllón on the South Carolina and Georgia coasts.[4][5][6] Some escaped and are thought to have joined Native Americans, if they survived.[4][7] In 1527,Estevanico, an enslaved Moor, participated in the SpanishNarváez expedition.[8][9][10] Enslaved Africans were also part of the Spanish expedition to Florida in 1539 withHernando de Soto, and the 1565 founding ofSt. Augustine, Florida.[6][7]
A 1901 illustration of the landing of thefirst Africans in Virginia. TheWhite Lion is seen anchored in the background.
The Africans on theWhite Lion were probably among the thousands who had been captured in 1618–1619 by a slave raiding force primarily consisting of African raiders, under nominal Portuguese leadership, who were at war[11][12] with theKingdom of Ndongo. These particular enslaved Africans were taken on the Portuguese slave shipSão João Bautista fromLuanda, Angola, capital of the Portuguese settlements in Angola.[12]
TheWhite Lion, along with another privateer, theTreasurer, commanded byDaniel Elfrith, intercepted theSão João Bautista on its way to modern-dayVeracruz on the Gulf coast ofNew Spain (present-day Mexico).[1] The two ships captured and divided part of the Portuguese ship's African captives, under the aegis of Dutchletters of marque fromMaurice, Prince of Orange.[1]White Lion captain John Colyn Jope sailed for the Virginia colony to sell the twenty-four African captives, first landing inPoint Comfort, in modern-day Hampton Roads.[1]
About the latter end of August, a Dutchman of Warr of the burden of a 160 tunnes arrived at Point-Comfort, the Comandors name Capt Jope, his Pilott for the West Indies one Mr Marmaduke an Englishman. They mett with the Treasurer in the West Indyes, and determined to hold consort shipp hetherward, but in their passage lost one the other. He brought not any thing but 20. and odd Negroes, which the Governor and Cape Marchant bought forvictualls (whereof he was in greate need as he pretended) at the best and easyest rates they could.[13]
After being sold off theWhite Lion, two of the indentured servants,[14] Isabella and Anthony, married and had a child in 1624.William Tucker, named after a Virginian planter, was the first recorded person of African ancestry born in English America.[15]
^abCameron, Guy, and Stephen Vermette; Vermette, Stephen (2012). "The Role of Extreme Cold in the Failure of the San Miguel de Gualdape Colony".The Georgia Historical Quarterly.96 (3):291–307.ISSN0016-8297.JSTOR23622193.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Maura, Juan Francisco (2002). "Nuevas interpretaciones sobre las aventuras de Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Esteban de Dorantes, y Fray Marcos de Niza".Revista de Estudios Hispánicos.29 (1–2):129–154.
^Gallay, Alan (2009). "Introduction: Indian Slavery in Historical Context". In Gallay, Alan (ed.).Indian Slavery in Colonial America. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. pp. 1–32. RetrievedMarch 8, 2017.
^Painter, Nell Irvin. (2006).Creating Black Americans: African-American history and its meanings, 1619 to the present. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 23–24.ISBN0-19-513755-8.OCLC57722517.
^abThornton, John (July 1998). "The African Experience of the "20. and Odd Negroes" Arriving in Virginia in 1619".The William and Mary Quarterly. 3rd.55 (3):421–434.doi:10.2307/2674531.JSTOR2674531.
^Kingsbury, Susan Myra, ed. (1933).The Records of the Virginia Company of London, Volume 3. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. p. 243.
^Bennett, Lerone Jr. (1962).Before the Mayflower: A History of the Negro in America, 1619-1962 (2017 ed.). BN Publishing. p. 30.ISBN978-1-68411-534-1.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
