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The first 20 involuntary Black settlers, arrive in Jamestown, Virginia.
1619 (Aug 20)
Twenty Blacks who had been captured in Africa were sold to the highest bidders at Jamestown, Virginia. However, these were not the first of their race to arrive in North America. Blacks had traveled with Spanish, Portuguese, and French explorers in the Americas throughout the sixteenth century. The most noted Black explorer, Estevanico, had arrived in Florida in 1528 with Andres de Dorantes on a conquering expedition. Diego el Negro was a crew member on the Capitana as part of Christopher Columbus's last voyage to the New World. There were as many as thirty Blacks, including Nuflo de Olano, who were with Vasco Nunez de Balboa when the explorer discovered the Pacific Ocean. The twenty Blacks sold at Jamestown in 1619 were, nonetheless, the first permanent involuntary settlers of their race, hence the history of African Americans in what is now the United States began with their arrival. Scholars debate whether or not they were enslaved or indentured servants.
References:
- • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.