
Illustration: Angolan musicians and dancer by Antonio Cavazzi, about 1690. Courtesy of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation. (Click to enlarge)
In the summer 1619 a Portuguese slave ship departed from Luanda, a port city in the West African country of Angola, bound for Vera Cruz, Mexico. But on the way the ship was attacked by British privateers. About 20 of the Africans, now considered prize cargo, were taken to Jamestown and traded for supplies.
Although these first Africans apparently were not treated as slaves but as indentured servants, this date is considered the beginning of slavery in America. The economics of raising and curing tobacco soon favored forced, cheap labor and ushered in two centuries of slavery.
This bleak chapter in the state’s history is being explored by two Virginia tourist attractions, Jamestown Settlement and Colonial Williamsburg, in observance of Black History month. Whether visiting these exhibits in person or virtually, much can be learned about the culture from which the slaves emerged and the culture of the nation that exploited them.
What the Jamestown Settlement has done is produce a family gallery guide, “From Africa to Virginia,” that takes you to the rural villages and towns of West Central Africa and the extensive civilization that existed there. The Angolans were well versed in making metal implements, and cultures like the Akan were well known for their gold jewelry. The Congo region also produced kuba cloth made from the raffia palm, which was highly valued by European traders.
Through the influence of the Portuguese, Christianity was widespread in the region, although with an African flavor. Among the exhibits at the Settlement is an African crucifix with a black Jesus draped in kuba cloth.
Although some Angolans knew how to read, write and speak Portuguese, West Central Africans mainly spoke the Bantu languages Kikongo and Kimbundu. Visitors can find language phones and listen to one of the native languages being spoken.
There’s a striking resemblance between the African and Indian cultures – at least in the eyes of European artists. The dancing African figure in the drawing by Antonio Cavazzi, an Italian priest, is reminiscent of the first impressions of native Americans by John White, one of the leaders of Walter Raleigh’s expeditions to the New World.
Colonial Williamsburg is delivering its message about the slave trade to school children through “electronic field trips” on its Web pages. Schools throughout the state are able to access them.
They include professionally produced video segments showing the origins of slavery. One of the segments was recorded on board the Schooner Virginia, the most readily available traditional sailing vessel.
The video presentations ask how a country founded on the principle that all are created equal can engage in slavery. A planter attempts to justify his actions by explaining how profitable the plantation system is. One slave trader boasts that he can pack more than 700 captives in the hold of his ship by making them lie sideways.
But the most captivating (if you can use that term) element may be a game called “Tracking the Slave Traders,” in which students interview various participants, learn where the trade takes place, intercept ships off Cuba and Africa and interrogate ship captains. In each case, there’s either an excuse for carrying their cargo or, in one case, a boast that the slaver would be back on the seas in no time. As long as planters will pay good money for slaves, he says, the practice will continue.
Finally, off the coast of Africa, more ships are stopped but we learn the brutal truth about the whole business, “The slave trade will not end as long as money can be made. It will not end until slavery is abolished.”








