THE BIG 1619 LIE

Today, the state of Virginia has a historical marker which claims Point Comfort as the arrival of the first African slaves which is in truth, a quadruple lie. First, “The Letter of Record” written by Sir John Rolfe in August 1619, truthfully read, “20 odd Negras”. 

The first lie is that Rolfe never said “Africans” and wrote with no excitement or alarm one would expect for a “First Arrival of Africans” notation. The truth is, the letter stated, “Negras". The feminine noun Negras is Spanish word for Dark Skinned People. Negras is the spanish word for African.

The second lie is the new fabrication; one stating new evidence to show that the 1619 ship originated by intercepting a ship of African cargo from Angola. Again, Angola as a country did not exist in 1619. That region in 1619 was referred to as the Congo. Truth is Angola was called Kongo not Angola in 1619. Also, there is no new research proving an Angolan origin of the Negro indentured servants. The Negras were mostly female Indentured Servants being transported to work in the Caribbean. Noone would import Indentured Servants a which are temporary Servants not forever slaves from The Kongo. If the temporary servants came from the Congo half of the servants would die on the trip, the remainder would need to be nursed back to health. Next, they would have to learn to speak both English and the Indigenous American language. In addition, they would have learn about the animals, insects and how to Farm new Vegetation. It is obvious that transporting TEMPORARY 7 year Indentured servants from Africa when they had little resources would be an unsound business expenditure. 

The third lie; 1619 mark the arrival of the first African slaves. The truth is; the historical society of Jamestown reports that the Negroes were Indentured servants not slaves. Truth is the “20 odd Negras” were Indentured servants not slaves.

The fourth lie; the “20 old Negroes” in great condition came all the way from the Kongo. When in truth, the term Negro is a Spanish term used for the dark-skinned Indigenous Indians of North, Central, South America and surrounding Islands. American Spanish Colonists gave negroid phenotype Indigenous American Indian both free and slave Spanish names upon Accepting Christianity. That is why the “20 Odd Negras” had Spanish names. Again, why would anyone waste such a great expense to travel all the way to and from the Kongo for indentured servants rather than slaves? Fact is, that in 1619, the London Company was a business, they would not waste money going all the way to Kongo for indentured servants who knew nothing about American soil and agriculture, nor would the Spanish who had plenty of American Indian indentured servants. 

The truth is, bringing Africans to Virginia was like bringing sand to the beach. African slave importation rarely happened, made no scientific, agricultural, historical or economic sense in Virginia. The only exceptions would be in other states that introduced specially trained African slaves for African crops that were new to North America. The other exception would be the case of gold mines in South America where the death tolls were significant.

The final evidence supporting that there was no significant arrival of African slaves in Virginia is a 1708 statement made by the acting Governor of Virginia, Edmund Jennings. Governor Jennings stated in a report to England’s Board of Trade that, “before the year 1680 what Negros were brought to Virginia were imported generally from Barbados for it was very rare to have a Negro ship come to this Country.” Cited in “Planting an Empire: The Early Chesapeake in British North America”, by Jean B. Russo and J. Elliott Russo.