In 1619, the first African slaves in America arrived in which current U.S. state?

In late August of 1619, an English privateer ship named the *White Lion* sailed into Point Comfort, a port in the English colony that would become the state of Virginia. Onboard were "20 and odd" captive Africans, who were traded to the colonists for food and supplies. This transaction marks the first documented arrival of enslaved Africans in English North America, establishing the historical basis for the answer.

The journey of these individuals was long and violent. They were originally from the Kingdom of Ndongo in west-central Africa (modern Angola) and had been captured by Portuguese slave traders. Forced onto a ship bound for Vera Cruz, Mexico, their vessel was attacked at sea by the *White Lion* and another English ship. The privateers seized some of the human cargo, diverting their destination to the Virginia Colony and forever changing the course of their lives and American history.

While these first Africans arrived as captives, their legal status was initially more ambiguous than the system of chattel slavery that would be codified into law later in the century. Many were likely treated as indentured servants, similar to many poor English immigrants at the time. However, their arrival was a pivotal moment, planting the seeds for a race-based, hereditary system of slavery that would become foundational to the economy and social structure of the colonies for the next 250 years.