There was a time before chattel slavery in the British colonies of Maryland and Virginia. In that roughly 60-70 year colonial window, there was only indentured servitude for a term of years (usually 7) of Africans and Europeans. This was before "whiteness" was invented. However, the profitability of colonial mercantile interests and plantation expediency required a division between the Africans and Europeans. This was especially so after the "Nathaniel Bacon Rebellion" in the 1660s respecting access to aboriginals' lands. Thereafter, the colonial legislatures created "whiteness" by bestowing certain material advantages on whites denied to blacks. They also did this to separate any union between indentured servants against their colonial masters over land. Slave patrols were then created to enforce these differences and to collect and corral blacks from running away to freedom
Friday, May 29, 2015
INDENTURED SERVITUDE OF EUROPEANS AND AFRICANS IN AMERICA CAME BEFORE SLAVERY
There was a time before chattel slavery in the British colonies of Maryland and Virginia. In that roughly 60-70 year colonial window, there was only indentured servitude for a term of years (usually 7) of Africans and Europeans. This was before "whiteness" was invented. However, the profitability of colonial mercantile interests and plantation expediency required a division between the Africans and Europeans. This was especially so after the "Nathaniel Bacon Rebellion" in the 1660s respecting access to aboriginals' lands. Thereafter, the colonial legislatures created "whiteness" by bestowing certain material advantages on whites denied to blacks. They also did this to separate any union between indentured servants against their colonial masters over land. Slave patrols were then created to enforce these differences and to collect and corral blacks from running away to freedom