History

Journal Entry 1:
The first African slaves were brought to Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. The English settlers treated these captives as indentured servants and released them after a number of years. This practice was gradually replaced by the system of race-based slavery used in the Caribbean. As servants were freed, they became competition for resources. Additionally, released servants had to be replaced. This, combined with the still ambiguous nature of the social status of Blacks and the difficulty in using any other group of people as forced servants, led to the relegation of Blacks into slavery. Massachusetts was the first colony to legalize slavery in 1641. Other colonies followed suit by passing laws that passed slavery on to the children of slaves and making non-Christian imported servants slaves for life.

My name is Grace and I am African American. And I was born a slave, and have been a slave until now.   We have lived on the plantations since I can remember. A lot of times families get separated because of their owners, but we are owned by the same family. Since we were told that we have to move. It has been very difficult and confusing for me.   My family and I have had to move to America on a boat. My family has always been together , this situation is difficult. Because of the move most of my family has been separated, but I am still here with my grandmother, mother and two sisters. I do not know why we are moving from the plantations, but we were told we had to go. We are migrating to the America. Things hasn’t changed for us slaves in America. I don’t fully understand why that is, I can only pray things will change, I imagine a place where everyone is no longer segregated. I can remember when I used to sneak and play with the slave owners daughter, we would have should a good time , jumping rope and dancing around in the yard, but once her father found out we could no longer play together. Everything I do I have to do with my own race because...