Our Journey in Bondage Begins to a New Destiny in America: A Focus on The African American

In 1606, two years after peace with Spain, the finger of destiny pointed to Virginia. A joint-stock company, known as the Virginia Company of London, received a charter from King James I of England for a settlement in the New World. The main attraction was a hope for gold, although there was a strong desire to convert the heathen Indian to Christianity and to find a passage through America to the Indies, apparently no one even faintly suspected that the seeds of a mighty new nation were being planted. The charter of the Virginia Company is a significant document in American History. It guaranteed to the overseas settlers the same rights of Englishmen that they would have enjoyed if they had stayed at home. This precious boon was gradually extended to the other English colonies, and soon became a foundation stone of American liberties.

In 1607, the settlers selected the tiny colony along the banks of the river; the colony and the river were named in the honor of King James I. This site was selected because it was easy to defend against Indians and particularly the Spaniards, who were eager to root out the heretical Protestant intruders. They actually organized several expeditions for that purpose, but lacked the courage or enterprise to launch an attack. The early years of Jamestown were nightmares for all concerned except the buzzards. Hundreds of wretched souls perished from disease, and actual starvation, ("the starving time" was 1609-1610), and later from Indian massacres. Ironically, the woods rustled with game and the river flopped with fish. Soft-handed English gentlemen and deported criminals("jayle birds") wasted valuable time seeking gold when they should have been hoeing corn. They were spurred to their frantic search by the edict from the sponsoring company, which threatened to abandon the colonists if they did not strike it rich. Virginia was on the verge of collapsing, but Captain John Smith took over the leadership in 1608 and whipped the gold-hungry colonists in line with the rule, "he who will not work shall not eat". In the mean time, Pocahontas, the daughter of Chief Powhatan, made a major contribution to the salvation of the colony by helping to preserve peace and provide foodstuffs. At times the settlers were forced to eat dogges, catts, ratts, and myce to stay alive.

John Rolf, married Pocahontas in 1613, and became the father of the tobacco industry, he was also the savior of the Virginia colony. By 1616, he had perfected methods of raising and curing the pungent weed ( "a gift of the Indian to the old world") which eliminated much of the bitter tang. Now the settlement takes its turn in a new and prosperous direction. The tobacco rush days began, as crops were planted in the streets of Jamestown and between some graves. The tobacco concentration was so great until foodstuff had to be imported.

Thus Virginia's prosperity was built on tobacco smoke. This "bewitched weed" played a vital role in putting the colony on firm foundations, and setting an example for other colonizing experiments. This tobacco enchained the prosperity of Virginia to the fluctuating price of a single crop. Tobacco promoted the broad-acred system, and with it a strong demand for slave labor. It was a money maker that necessitated laborers and workers. Now the table is set for the breaking of a new dawn in the colonies.

In 1619, the year before the Plymouth Pilgrims landed in New England, a Dutch warship appeared off Jamestown and sold twenty black Africans. (The scanty record does not reveal whether they were purchased as life-long slaves or as servants committed to limited years of servitude.) At first black bondsmen were imported in driplets, and by the end of the century, there were still many more white laborers than Negro slaves in Virginia. Representative government was also born in Virginia in the same cradle and year with slavery. The black slave was captured in his homeland, tied or chained and taken to a slave holding station, for further sale to the European nations, as servants. Slave thievery was not a pretty thing to watch. There were many slave holding stations in Africa; and buyers had commerce routes for their customers. The slave would be captures carried to the holding area and branded as one would iron brand cattle, he was then sold to customers along with other merchandise, and transported by ship to other markets along the route.

The episode was extremely horrible; nevertheless, slave trade was very profitable for the ship-owners and the countries that purchased them. Portugal and Spain, being in close proximity of Africa, were the first nations to explore seas to the West. The African merchants sold the slaves; then they were taken westward to the islands that we now know as the Indies, and to the Americas. During the trip, many slaves died form disease, hunger, and overcrowded ships. Most countries had slaves. On the contrary, the white race were not consider to be slaves in America, they were indentured servants as were the first Africans. After a few years, things would change for the blacks bondsman.

The Settlers could have done things differently, for instance, the black did not have to be punished by the white establishment, for being the color that the Lord God had made them; they could have worked the slave for a while and then allowed him to own property, raise a family, and be prosperous as white men were. They did not have to classify the blacks as being of lower class to the white race, and say that they were the first race created to be inferior. From the beginning the white race doomed the blacks and made sure they stayed in the underclass condition for as long as they could, and fought a war to maintain their control. The practice of racial superiority originated in the old world. Some races made themselves overseers of the world's population, and have spent most of their time maintaining this practice all over the world. The sad part about this is, they attempt to use the Bible to reinforce their contention. Therefore, as time went on, more slaves were brought and sold to the settlers, and they realized that it was profitable to own slaves, even if it was bondage and building a foundation of wealth and prosperity by means of free slave labor, in the Islands of the West Indies and America.

Initially, blacks were purchased to work as indented or apprentice servants; the institution of slavery is not...