It is likely that there were slaves involved in settlements in the 1500's. This is not universally accepted, clearly, and 1619 is commonly used as a starting point.
I am of course still using the term "slave" to indicate "people taken against their will, and bound to work without choice, for a period of time".
Misguided focus on 1619 (smithsonian institute)
I do understand what Northam was trying to say; from a historical perspective, the early settlers do not appear to have focused on race, and while they did not simply fight the dutch to release the slaves they had captured, they did "treat" the slaves as if they were indentured, and did free them after their period ended -- although again, since the angolans had no choice in the matter, this wasn't a normal use of the concept of "indentured servant".
It is OK I think to distinguish what happened in 1619 with the general slave trade that started later; it just makes no sense to me to argue that they weren't slaves, especially when you are trying to defend yourself from charges of being insensitive to racial matters.
I heard a report, possibly read it here, that there were in fact some blacks indentured as servants in Virginia in 1619. they were not slaves.
I never heard of black indentured servants in Virginia. There were tons and tons of white English that were indentured to pay for their passage.
I personally doubt there were any indentured negros in Virginia under the 1619 Virginia Indenture act
“It is likely that there were slaves involved in settlements in the 1500’s.”
Those fools at Smithsonian are writing about Spanish settlements, as if they were the beginning of what became the United States. I guess that’s why our colonial ancestors all spoke Spanish and rebelled against the King of Spain in 1776. Idiots.
Other than the Lost Colony of Roanoke, Jamestown was the first Colony of British North America. Of what became the United States. And the first colonists landed at Jamestown in 1607.
Moreover the Roanoke Colony itself may well have failed due to England’s war with Spain, the same war featuring the Spanish Armada. Fighting that attempted Spanish invasion kept England from resupplying Roanoke, and by the time they were able to return there was no trace of the colony other than the mysterious ‘croatoan’ inscription.