Slavery in America

Kimbo · #1 03-18-09, 00:51

Had a discussion with a guy today about slavery in America. According to him the first slaves in America were the Asians in the west coast during the gold rush. Now correct me if I'm wrong but weren't the first slaves in what we now call the "United States" were Native Americans who were conquered by rival tribes? Then the next group were Africans during the early colonization of America? There were Asian slaves in the western hemisphere but they weren't technically in North America, they were in the Caribbean. This guy was very very serious when he said that the Chinese and Japanese were the first slaves in America. The Chinese were mistreated and paid very very bad wages but weren't owned by anyone and the Japanese were held against their will in detention camps during WWII? I just wanted to vent about this because I'm no history major but there has to be a line drawn with ignorance. Maybe he was saying this to spite me (I'm Asian).

jtb0311 · #2 03-18-09, 00:56

You are right, and he is wrong. Also of note (and at the risk of being grossly misinterpreted) 90% of the blacks who were forcibly removed from Africa ended up in South America and he Caribbean, and only 10% ended up in North America.

Gentoo · #3 03-18-09, 01:00

You are right and he is trolling you.

FromMyColdDeadHand · #4 03-18-09, 01:01

Too lazy to wiki it, but I thought it was 1619 or 1620 when a slave ship landed in Virginia. I don't even think they meant to land there or something.

chadbag · #5 03-18-09, 01:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by jtb0311

You are right, and he is wrong. Also of note (and at the risk of being grossly misinterpreted) 90% of the blacks who were forcibly removed from Africa ended up in South America and he Caribbean, and only 10% ended up in North America.

sold by their African brothers to the slavers...

TOrrock · #6 03-18-09, 01:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by FromMyColdDeadHand

Too lazy to wiki it, but I thought it was 1619 or 1620 when a slave ship landed in Virginia. I don't even think they meant to land there or something.

1619, Dutch slaver pulls into Jamestown, VA to resupply and traded some of it's human cargo for water and food.

Before and after that, indentured servants and "transported" criminals and people on the wrong side of a land owner or magistrate were shipped over to VA from England, Scotland, Wales, and especially Ireland. They were slaves in all but name, and there really wasn't much difference in the way the African and European servants were treated originally. The biggest difference in records of the time differentiated them as "Christian servants" and "pagans".

It wasn't until the later 1600's that there started to be a clear dilineation between European indentured servants and Africans in North America, with the Africans getting the short end of the stick, and the start of pure chattel slavery in the English colonies.