Pursuit of both liberty and enslavement. Because just a few weeks after that first General Assembly in 1619, a ship arrived carrying stolen African People taken from angola. Here, they were sold and sold again. The first enslaved African People who were not granted the same freedoms that would be given to white land owning colonists. And here those enslaved africans joined the thousands of virginias first people, the members of the Virginian Indian tribes who would also wait centuries to have the same freedoms. So today as we hold these commemorations of the First Representative Assembly in the free world, we have to remember who it included and who it did not. That is the paradox of virginia, of america, and of our representative democracy. A full accounting demands that we confront and discuss those aspects of our history. It demands that we look not just for hundredn time 400 years in the past, but at how our commonwealth and our country evolved over the course of those four centuries. Joining us from Hampton University in virginia is dr. Cassandra newbyalexandra. She serves as the liberal arts dean. We appreciate you being here on cspan television and cspan3s American History tv as we look back at august of 1619. Thank you for being with us. Thank you. In thee is a rehearsal background so you will hear music as well. Be live onwill cspan3s American History tv. Explain the significance of what happened and physically where you are located in terms of what we sell 400 years ago. We saw 400 years ago. Dr. Newbyalexander im here at fort monroe in hampton, virginia. This is the side of what they called old Point Comfort. This is where all the ships coming in from the Atlantic Ocean would first come in. They wouldnt dock, they would offload supplies, and they would offload personnel and others. This site is where the first africans from West Central Africa arrived in the Virginia Colony, also called the Jamestown Colony. This is a significant time. Because this is the beginning of the african presence in what we would later call the United States of america. And we would really see them contributing not only their skills, not only their talents, but also their fight for freedom and equality. It began right here at Point Comfort in hampton, virginia. Host and if you could, explain the journey they took from africa and how they ended up location, Point Comfort in hampton, virginia. Dr. Newbyalexander sure. The portuguese were controlling a port area called lawanda in todays angola. This was the west central coast, where there were a number of kingdoms. One of the most dominant kingdoms was the kingdom of ndongo that would later be led by queen ndzinga, and the other. And the kingdom of the congo. The portuguese were seeking labor and they used mercenaries that they hired to raid villages, towns and cities. It would be in 1619, while the 30 years war was going on between all of the people against spain, such as england and holland, they were fighting their war for dominance. And on the african or west african coast, the West Central African coast, you had a war for dominance as well. Many of these groups were using mercenaries to dominate. So the portuguese used this group and invaded the kingdom of nadongo. They marched captives to the port. They unloaded the ship, where on the san juan bautista, there were about 350 of these captives. These individuals were on ship that set sail to the veracruz port, or they would be sold to People Living in what we called spanish america. And of course, the veracruz coast is mexico today. These individuals had gone through a very perilous journey. A lot of people got sick and died. There were even some offloaded because of their illness in jamaica. As they were headed towards the veracruz port, they were attacked by two english privateer vessels. One, the white lion, captained by a former calvinist minister, and the other is the treasurer, owned by the Virginia Company of london. They seized about 100 captives aboard the two ships and set sail for virginia. Somehow, during that journey, the two ships were separated by three to four days. So the first ship that arrived, the white lion, came here to Point Comfort. John rawls, who had been married to pocahontas and remarried to a woman whose father was william pierce, met the ship. William pierce and john rawls met the ship at Point Comfort. And john recorded that about 20 odd had arrived in august of 1619. These people had been kidnapped twice and ended up on these shores as unfree people. There are a lot of people who refer to them as slaves but i dispute that particular idea. I say they were unfree because they had been free people before their captivity. When they came to the virginia coastline, they were sold as servants. Three to four days later, another ship arrived. The treasurer. It offloaded a few people, total of 32 africans arrived in 1619. About one month after the Virginia Legislature was formed that also created its court system. Years later, that court system would begin to systematically take the human rights away from those first africans, and later, the legislature would continue that process in codifying it into law. We know there were probably about 17 women and 15 men. We dont really know their ages. Probably young, older children, teenagers, young adults who were forced to come here to the virginia colonies and labor, in some cases, for probably about 20 years if they lived that long. Host we are talking with Cassandra Newbyalexander, joining us from hampton, virginia. She is the dean of the college of liberal arts at norfolk state university. We are talking about 400 years ago. You are doing a terrific job with the rehearsal going on in the background. We appreciate you being with us for the next that event will be hour. Live on American History tv on cspan3 in about 15 minutes. Our phone lines are open. 202 7488000 in the eastern or central time zones. For those of you in the mountain or pacific time zones, 202 7488001. Join the conversation. I want to follow up on two quick points. First of all, we talk about the first africans arriving in virginia in what was british north america, but others were arriving in florida, which was a spanish territory. The u. S. Was not formed back then, correct . Dr. Newbyalexander thats correct. Florida would not become a part until 1819. D states while we recognize the fact that there were africans in north america long before 1619, but it would be in 1619, after the formation of a government, that we would begin to see the emergence of a society and culture, and people of african descent were a part of that emerging culture. They contributed not only to our society, their skills, for example. Some were blacksmiths, these were skilled artisans who arrived. They understood architecture, understood agricultural production. In fact, tobacco was the big producer in virginia even though it wouldnt be until the early 18th century that African People would begin to dominate that as forced laborers. But their contributions to the 17th century helped the english to understand the importance of Crop Rotation with tobacco. They also had been producing pipes. Tobacco pipes. So they were part of this Huge Industry of pipe production. You have the english pipe, the native american pipe, and the african pipe. The european population had different preferences depending on where they were, so africans contributed that and contributed their culinary skills. They contributed their techniques for riverboat trading. That is something the english were somewhat unfamiliar with. They were familiar more with oceangoing trading. The africans also brought their understanding of how to blend food together in a way that was unique. We would see the formation for the first time of what we call southern cuisine, emerging in the 17th century. Most importantly, i say the africans help to contribute to our understanding of what freedom really meant. So, this issue of democracy would be very different if it were not for the people of african descent and their fight for not only freedom but citizenship and equality in this country. Im reminded of what the acclaimed writer Ralph Ellison wrote in a 1970 Time Magazine article in which he said what would america be like without africanamericans . I think about all of that when i think about 2019. This 400 year journey that people of african descent have been on in america. It is a story not only of oppression, but more importantly, of perseverance and of accomplishment and of being a part of this American Culture and society. I also think about america, what would america really be like without people of african descent . What would our music sound like . What would our language sound like . What would our sense of style be like without people of african descent . Even the understanding that we have of freedom and equality, and real democracy, what would that be like without people of african descent . I would say it would be very different. Host our guest is a graduate of the university of virginia, earning her doctorate from william and mary. She has written a number of books on slavery and Race Relations in america. I want to get the calls briefly but if you could quickly answer this question. Who was thinking what when they brought slaves or africans as slaves to the virginia colonies . Dr. Newbyalexander i think the people who brought them here were quite aware of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. They were looking for additional laborers. Perhaps it was in their minds that these would be enslaved people. We know they were treated differently from the beginning. Many did not have their names recorded until sometime, in some cases, three to four years later. Even then, the lists were incomplete with names. We know there was an antonian isabella. Many of these people came here fluent and portuguese as well as their native african languages. They seemed to learn english very quickly. Anthony and isabella were owned by captain William Tucker. What is interesting about the relationship was that captain William Tucker became the godfather to their son who is named after him, William Tucker. In the court records, it indicated that captain tucker was this young mans godfather, which means that godfather was never enslaved, that that child was never in bondage because his status took after that of his godfather. He was protected and that status because of the status of his godfather, who was a prominent planter, who was living in the Indian Village that the english took over that we call hamptons, virginia today. We know also there was a woman in the record who was listed as angela, which i understand is a portuguese name which could be masculine or feminine, which is why many people refer to her as angela. Historic jamestown is in the process of excavating around the home she lived in because she was owned by william pierce, who was the fatherinlaw of john rawl. We know from the records that she worked along with william pierces wife on a garden that was about four acres and she , kept the pigs in that area. That suggests she was very much involved with introducing culinary practices that she was familiar with from West Central Africa to that family household, which was a prominent household. They were living in what we called, at that time, new jamestown, which was a settlement, a town outside of the fort of jamestown. She was also that particular war. Had a huge goods and products not only came into the colony from the war, wharf, but it left that wharf as well. So she was in the mix of what was happening in the Virginia Colony. We know there was a man by the name of Anthony Johnson, and his wife mary, both from and go look. From angola. The two of them would gain their freedom after 20 years, which is the typical time that if you did not have a contract, if you are not an indentured servant, you were simply referred to as a servant, and you would not serve more than 20 years. That was considered a lifetime servitude if it was more than 20 years. They were living on the bennetts plantation, located on the james river. They gained their freedom, also gained land as part of the system given to all servants who had completed their years of servitude, and their land was on the eastern shore. They became prominent landowners. We know this from the court records. They named their plantation angola, in remembrance of their homeland. Their family prospered. But the courts and the virginia legislative body changed the law. At the time Anthony Johnson was to become a free holder, which means a voter, they made it white only. But he was a prominent individual. He owned both black and white servants. He was a person who actually fought through the courts for his rights as a citizen of the colony. Host we know the Tucker Family cemetery is not far from where you are located in hampton, virginia. You are at the Fort Monroe National memorial. It was designated by barack dedicated by barack obama reflecting on what happened in as the first africans arriving 1619 in virginia. That is our focus. Mary is joining us from martinsville, virginia. Good morning. Caller i have often thought some of the people that captured the africans to be sold to the portuguese were africans themselves. Would you like to comment on that . Host thank you, mary. Dr. Newbyalexander sure. We have this homogenized view when we think of africans, yet when we think of europeans, we recognize the ethnic differences, the different kingdoms and nationstates, but we dont have, in American Society, a familiarity with the same kind of thing on the continent of africa. This is the second largest continent on the planet. This is a continent with a very diverse ethnic compilation of people, different nationstates, some of which were warring against each other. So when we talk about africans enslaving other africans, i think we need to also talk about how many of the europeans enslaved other europeans. When you think of the word slave, it comes from slav. So there were europeans who had been enslaving other europeans for centuries. The same thing was true on the continent of africa where people who were captured in war were often enslaved, but enslaved did not always have the same meaning on that particular continent. In fact, some people who were of aved became wives prominent individual. Some of the people became the children who would be the inheritors of property. So, that term had a very different meaning. But in the case of those who would be transported through the Transatlantic Slave Trade, you started to see, by the 17th century, these wars to acquire slaves. And, these wars were conducted by many mercenary groups who were being paid. They were outside of the traditional structure of nationstates. They were simply in it for the money. They were attacking these people and capturing them, and putting them in that transatlantic slave system, in exchange for money or in exchange for weapons and other resources. I hope that helps to provide some Contextual Understanding of what was happening on the continent. Host and of course, 1619, when the first africans arrived in virginia, more than 225 years later, where you are located served as a key battleground point for the north and south during the height of the civil war. Lets go to chris in alexandria, virginia. Good morning. Caller good morning. My question is to the professor. You are saying your whole presentation here is denoting that these were the first africans, the first time africans were found in america when, actually, and you try to make a distinction between the spanish and english, but really, to the african enslaved people, and i use enslaved because that is the proper term, they were free and then they were brought over here. What was Anthony Daviss real name that his parents gave him . The fact that you are using anthony davis, johnson, whatever it is, that is a name given to him in slavery. My question is, the africans that were in florida, for example, in 1500 something, how can we perpetrate this so called commemoration which is really a memorial of 1619 being the first . Thank you. Host thank you so much. Prof. Newbyalexander thank you for your question. No one is denying there were not africans on the north American Continent prior to 1619. The idea really is that even though they were down in florida, that was an area dominated by the spanish. So, this commemoration is about the africans who arrived in the Virginia Colony, also called the Jamestown Colony. The Jamestown Colony was started in it was the first colony, the 1607. First permanent english settlement. From that colony, we would grow into the 13 original colonies, but not until the 19th century would florida become a part of the american nationstates nationstate. So, this commemoration is about what happened right here in virginia, in the first colony, and that is why the specific statement is usually the first africans who arrived in the english,