People, Locations, Episodes

Anthony Johnson, Indentured Servant Owner born

*The birth of Anthony Johnson is celebrated on this date in 1606. He was an African slave and farmer and one of the first Black property owners in colonial America. He was a tobacco farmer in Maryland and had his right to legally own a slave recognized by the Virginia courts. There is no information […]

African Slaves Arrive at Point Comfort (Hampton), VA.

It was on this date in 1619 that 20 Africans arrive at Hampton, Virginia, aboard a Dutch ship. They were the first Africans on record to be forcibly settled as involuntary laborers in the North American British Colonies.

Africans came ashore at Point Comfort, present day Fort Monroe in Hampton, VA. President Barack Obama declared Fort Monroe a National Monument in 2011 in part because he said that is where the first Africans came ashore in North America.

The Dutch West India Company is Formed

*The Dutch West India Company was founded on this date in 1621. They were a chartered company of Dutch merchants, slave traffickers, and foreign investors. Among its founders were Willem Usselincx and Jessé de Forest. The Republic of the Seven United Netherlands granted it a charter for a trade monopoly in the Dutch West Indies and gave […]

The Dahomey Amazon Women, a story

*The Dahomey Amazons are celebrated on this date in 1625. Also called Mino, or Minon, “our mothers,” they were a Fon all-female military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey. Western observers and historians named them due to their similarity to the mythical Amazons of ancient Anatolia and the Black Sea. King Houegbadja, the third King of Dahomey, is […]

The Kingdom of Dahomey, a story

*The Kingdom of Dahomey is celebrated on this date in 1625. This pre-colonial African kingdom, located within present-day Benin, existed until 1904. The oral story goes that Dakodonu considered their second king, was granted permission by the Gedevi chiefs, the local rulers, to settle on the Abomey plateau. Dakodonu requested additional land from a prominent […]

Ganga Zumba, Afro Brazilian Community Leader born

*Ganga Zumba’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1630. He was the first leader of the vast escaped Afro Brazilian slave settlement of Quilombo dos Palmares, or Angola Janga, in present-day Alagoas, Brazil. Ganga Zumba is said to have been the son of Princess Aqualtune, the daughter of an unknown king of the central […]

Fort Amsterdam, Slave-Holding Facility Is Built

*Fort Amsterdam is remembered on this date in 1631.  This fort was used by the British and Dutch to facilitate Black African slave labor in the Middle Passage.  It was built by the English between 1638 and 1645 as Fort Cormantin and was captured by the Dutch West India Company in 1665 in retaliation for the capture of […]

The Swedish African Slave Trade Business, a story

*The Swedish African slave trade began on this date in 1650. This was a business venture that many white European countries were involved in regarding the Middle Passage. In the mid-17th century, Sweden established trading stations along the West African coast, with bases in the Swedish Gold Coast, which is today part of Ghana. Sweden and Denmark […]

The Cape Coast Castle (slave fort) a story

*On this date in 1653, we affirm the Cape Coast Castle.  This was one of about forty “slave castles,” or commercial forts, built on the Gold Coast of West Africa (now Ghana) by European traders. It was initially a Portuguese trading post. However, in 1653, the Swedish Africa Company constructed a timber fort there. It originally was a […]

Fort Apollonia, African Slave Quarters is Built

*Fort Apollonia was established on this date in 1655.   It was used during the Middle Passage; its name, Apollonia, was given by a Portuguese explorer who sighted the place on the Feast of Saint Apollonia on this month and day in History. The Swedes established a trading post at Apollonia as part of the Swedish Gold […]

Johnson v. Parker is Decided

*On this date, in 1655, Johnson v. Parker was decided. This case involved the designation of indentured servitude and slavery. The Northampton County Court ruled in favor of Anthony Johnson, whose slave, John Casor, ran away and claimed to be an indentured servant. The court charged Johnson’s neighbor, Robert Parker, with having “most unjustly kept” […]

Fort James (slave fort) is built

*Fort James was built on this date in 1659. It was a slave-holding fort located in Accra, Ghana. In 1673, the Royal African Company of England (RAC) built it as a trading post for gold and slaves, joining the Dutch Fort Crêvecœur (1649) and the Danish Fort Christiansborg (1652) along the Coast of the then-Gold Coast. […]

Osu Castle (slave fort), a story

*On this date in 1660, the Osu Castle is affirmed. This slave fort (also known as Fort Christiansborg) is a castle in Osu, Ghana, on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea in Africa. The facility was built by Denmark-Norway, Portugal, Akwamu, Britain, and finally, post-Independence Ghana. Under Denmark–Norway control, it was the capital of the Danish […]

The Barbados Slave Code is enacted

*The Barbados Slave Code was enacted on this date in 1661. Officially titled as An Act for the better ordering and governing of Negroes, it was a law passed by the Parliament of Barbados to provide a legal basis for slavery in the English colony of Barbados. Throughout British North America, slavery evolved in practice […]

The Royal African Company (RAC) is Founded

*On this date, the 1662 founding of the Royal African Company (RAC) is briefly examined.   This was an Irish/English commercial slave trading company set up by the royal Stuart family and the City of London to trade along the west coast of Africa. It was led by the Duke of York, who was the brother of Charles II and later took the throne as James II.   Soon after […]