Also American
Struggle & ResistanceAchievement & Excellence

1600s

1600–1699

Slavery is codified in colonial law as the first Africans arrive at Point Comfort.

Achievement
William Tucker, first African child born in English America

Son of two of the 1619 arrivals, baptized in Jamestown — the first documented child of African descent born in the English colonies.

Zoom in — decades

1600s
1600–1609
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1610s
1610–1619
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1620s
1620–1629
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1630s
1630–1639
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1640s
1640–1649
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1650s
1650–1659
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1660s
1660–1669
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1670s
1670–1679
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1680s
1680–1689
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1690s
1690–1699
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Key events

  1. 1624
    William Tucker, first African child born in English America

    Son of two of the 1619 arrivals, baptized in Jamestown — the first documented child of African descent born in the English colonies.

  2. 1651· debated
    Anthony Johnson, a free African landowner

    Once an indentured African, Johnson gains his freedom and owns 250 acres on Virginia's Eastern Shore — among the first free Black landowners in the colonies.

Resources from this period