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December 1662

Virginia makes slavery hereditary

Virginia law declares that a child's status follows the mother, making slavery inheritable and permanent.

Events

December 1662
Virginia makes slavery hereditary
Virginia law declares that a child's status follows the mother, making slavery inheritable and permanent.
1662
Partus Sequitur Ventrem: slavery made hereditary
A 1662 Virginia law decreed that a child inherited the enslaved or free status of its mother — making slavery hereditary, turning the children of enslaved women into property at birth, and reversing English common law, which followed the father.

Resources from this period

Primary sources·1

Primary source· Primary

"Negro womens children to serve according to the condition of the mother" (1662)

Encyclopedia Virginia

The law making a child's enslaved status follow the mother's.

Websites·1

Elizabeth Key (fl. 1655–1660)

Encyclopedia Virginia

The woman of African descent who won an early freedom suit.