SOCL 2270 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Indentured Servant, Black Death, Dark Skin

• School: Northeastern University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOCL 2270
• Professor: Chambers Christopher

Document Summary

Of all major european colonizing nations, english were only one that had basically no experience w dark skinned ppl prior to settlement in new world. Africans first introduced to english colony jamestown in 1619 as part of the (cid:862)(cid:272)argo(cid:863) that was being traded along va coast. As tobacco and sugar production became larger scale, slave labor was increasingly relied on. Later 17th century brought social and economic changes that separated blacks from other servants until their status was reduced to that of permanent hereditary slavery: first law recognizing africans as slaves was in 1661. Institution of slavery came to mirror the discrimination that first occurred from the first contact w africans on american soil. Slave status argued to be fully defined bore black labor became pivotal to economic system: skin color of africans alone marked the stark contrast b/w english and african;