The first recorded enslaved Africans arrived in the English colony of Virginia at Point Comfort, present-day Fort Monroe, on August 20, 1619. More than a year before the Mayflower Pilgrims docked in Plymouth Harbor, Two English pirate ships, the Treasurer and White Lion. each carrying 20-30 African slaves landed in the Jamestown colony within four days of each other, who are then bought by the colonists. The arrival date is sometimes cited as "Late August (20 - 25), 1619"
The slaves had been taken from a Portuguese slave ship, the San Juan Bautista, carrying 350 African slaves in route to Veracruz, Mexico. Virginia’s first enslaved people spoke Bantu languages, and their homelands were the kingdoms of Ndongo and Kongo. They are the first recorded Africans to arrive in the English mainland American colonies. marking the beginning of what evolved into a legalized system of slavery that lasted two and a half centuries. More
