OppressionAugust 20, 1619

"20 and odd" Africans arrive at Point Comfort

An English privateer trades roughly two dozen captive Angolans to Virginia colonists at Old Point Comfort — a foundational moment whose exact legal status (enslaved vs. indentured) historians still debate.

Historians debate aspects of this entry. See the methodology for how contested history is handled.

Chattel Slavery The Transatlantic Slave Trade Greed — The Root West-Central Africa (Kongo & Angola)

Resources

Primary sources·1

Primary source· Primary

"Twenty and odd Negroes" — John Rolfe to Sir Edwin Sandys (1619/1620)

John Rolfe

Rolfe's letter recording the 1619 arrival of the first Africans in Virginia.

Books·1

Book· 2019

The 1619 Project

Nikole Hannah-Jones, ed.

Reframing US history around the consequences of slavery.

Research·1

Research· Primary

Virginia's First Africans (1619 report)

City of Hampton, VA

Research on the White Lion's arrival at Point Comfort and the first recorded Africans.

Articles·2

Article· 2019

Virginia's First Africans

Encyclopedia Virginia

Scholarship on the 1619 Point Comfort landing and its contested history.

Article

Stolen From Africa: The First Africans in Virginia, 1619

Kelley Fanto Deetz

Traces Virginia's first Africans back to Angola and the Portuguese trade.

Videos·1

Slavery in the American Colonies — Crash Course Black American History #2

CrashCourse

Websites·1

Website· Primary

NPS — 1619 and the 400 Years of African American History Commission

National Park Service

How the federal government frames the 1619 Point Comfort arrival.

The web

Connections to other moments, systems, and investigations — the links rarely drawn together.

led to (incoming)·Thread
West-Central Africa (Kongo & Angola)
The 1619 captives at Point Comfort were Kimbundu-speakers taken from Ndongo.
caused (incoming)·Thread
Greed — The Root
The first Africans were sold into a Virginia economy hungry for cheap tobacco labor.

Where to go next

led to

West-Central Africa (Kongo & Angola)

The 1619 captives at Point Comfort were Kimbundu-speakers taken from Ndongo.

caused

Greed — The Root

The first Africans were sold into a Virginia economy hungry for cheap tobacco labor.