1619

Among the first Africans arriving in English Virginia in 1619 were individuals recorded by name: 'Antoney Negro,' 'Mary Negro,' and others. They arrived as war captives seized from the Portuguese slave ship São João Bautista by English privateers. Their initial status was ambiguous, some served as indentured servants rather than permanent slaves, a legal ambiguity that would close decisively over the following decades.

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.