Indentured servitude to Racialized slavery
video indentured servitude
Virginia had a bad reputation (diseae and conflict with Indians)
indentures servitude was like slavery but they were only enslaved for a certain number of years (they were beaten, couldn't marry or own land
at the end you were given freedom dues
usually your own choice
Foner reading
enslaved people could not claim the same rights of Englishmen, were easy to track down, equipped to handle intense agricultural labor, and their children were enslaved
plantation owners had to convince themselves slavery was ok by saying Black people were inferior
Indian population had lowered due to disease so enslaved ppl were brought in from Africa
but they could gain freedom in the earliest years of slavery
They could sometimes own land and sue in court once freed some even had white slaves
racial differences began to become more prominent as time went on.
children of slaves became slaves automatically
bacon's rebellion- when Berkely refused to "exterminate" Indians for more land
mostly non landowning men and indentured servants who were on Bacon's side
by 1700 slavery became more prominent meaning enslaved ppl became 10% of the population and they became property
Takaki reading
Caliban- character that described Africans (bad)
they were brought on slave ships and kept underneath in terrible conditions
beggars were taken off the streets and used as indentured servants
Black and white ppl often ran away toghether
they were given much harsher sentences than white people
It became cheaper to invest in life long servants after the average lifespan got longer and less indentured servants wanted to come to virginia
white indentured servants worked like enslaved ppl and laws were passed to keep them indentured for longer
bacons rebellion
White landless poor men joined together and killed indians
black people joined too
Berkeley had to run away and bacon died shortly after
"the social order would always be in danger so long as they had to depend on white labor." and The planter class saw that black slaves could be more effectively controlled by state power than white servants, for they could be denied certain rights based on the color of their skin."
They would then be able to exploit a group of workers who had been enslaved and denied the right to bear arms because of their race
morgan reading
Thomas Jefferson owned slaves of his own
yet he believed in freedom and gave men 50 acres of land
Drake and Hakluyt dreamed of building an empire in America
they failed after killing an indian chief
"men who had been just scrap-ing by were obliged to go back to work for their larger neighbors simply in order to stay alive."
"The rights of Englishmen were preserved by destroying the rights of Africans."
"It came automatically as Virginians bought the cheapest labor they could get."