Remembering Ancestors

Remembering Ancestors. . The Middle Passage , For more than 350 years, approximately 12 million Africans were transported across the Atlantic Ocean in the largest forced human migration in history. Two million, unknown and forgotten, died during the voyage. Of the ten million who survived, at least 500,000 arrived between 1619 and 1860, in what is now the United States of America. These enslaved survivors and their descendants contributed labor and skills to develop this nation., Slavery was crucial to the growth of the fledgling colony whose economy became dependent upon the enslavement of an increasing number of Africans. In many cases, a planter did not have enough slaves to produce tobacco on a Tidewater plantation and to create new fields on undeveloped land in the Piedmont. Elite colonists purchased imported Africans to expand their labor forces. According to historian Lorena S. Walsh, “Although most bought only one, two, and seldom more than four slaves from individual ships, they nonetheless acquired their adult labor force in a span of no more than ten to fifteen years.” From 1619 until 1774, more than 390 vessels brought captured Africans to Virginia, delivering to major trade ports and directly to plantations along the James, York, and Rappahannock Rivers. Their diverse knowledge, culture, and beliefs impacted the heritage of Virginia., Yorktown and the York River District , In 1691, the Virginia Assembly established Yorktown as an official port for the colony. It was the main port of entry for Williamsburg which was established as Virginia’s colonial capital in 1699. During the first part of the 18th century, it served as the primary port of entry for Africans brought into the Virginia colony where the trade was widespread and profitable until 1771. The entire York River District between 1698 and 1750 was the center of the overseas trade, and during this period over 80 percent of “imported Africans were disembarked on the shores of the York and Rappahannock Rivers.”, In her 2001 article, The Chesapeake Slave Trade, Walsh also noted that, “Most arrived directly from Africa in vessels that carried, on average, 125 captives. London slavers predominated in the York at the turn of the century but were then soon supplanted by Bristol shippers….Just over 9,000 (56 percent) came from the Bight of Biafra, one-fifth from West Central Africa, a tenth from the Windward and Gold Coasts, and two additional twentieths from Senegambia and Madagascar.”, (sidebar) , The "Great Valley" , In front of you, and to your left, is the “Great Valley.” One of the few natural washes down the marl cliffs of Yorktown, it was used during the eighteenth century as a roadway to connect the busy waterfront to the town above. This was the primary passageway for the Africans arriving by ship to the market that awaited them on Main Street. Over 31,000 Africans entered the York River District between 1698 and 1771.