17th & 18th C ENT UR IES
Hampton, founded in 1610 and the oldest continuous English speaking settlement in America, is home to many “firsts.” In late August 1619, the first recorded Africans to be brought to English North America arrived at Point Comfort, today’s Fort Monroe. The first “20 and odd” Africans were brought from West Central Africa, present-day Angola. They had been captured from the Kingdom of Ndongo during the 161820 Portuguese war against the African kingdoms. They were loaded aboard a ship in Luanda on the African West coast in May 1619 and departed for Vera Cruz, Mexico. The ship, slave merchant vessel Sao Joao Bautista, was attacked by two ships, Treasurer and White Lion, in the Gulf of Mexico. The captains of the attacking ships each captured Africans as human cargo from the Sao Joao Bautista. “In the latter end of August, a Dutch man of War...arrived at Point Comfort,” wrote Virginia Colony secretary John Rolfe in 1619. Rolfe further noted that the White Lion commander delivered “20 and odd negroes” who were traded for provisions and other supplies. They would become either servants or chattel slaves.
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Located at the present-day site of Fort Monroe and separated from Hampton’s mainland by Mill Creek, Old Point Comfort is a fitting place to begin your heritage tour. Two of the original Africans to arrive, Antoney and Isabell, became servants of Captain William Tucker. Tucker was commander of the fort at Point Comfort. Captain Tucker noted in his 1624 muster roll that their child, William, was the first recorded baby of African descent to be baptized in English North America. The other Africans were transferred to plantations along the James River. Africans were brought to Virginia to provide labor to plant and harvest crops, thus beginning the transatlantic slave trade and two centuries of slavery in America. The first Africans came from a civilized society and brought to America their skills as farmers - growing crops and raising large herds of cattle, goats and chickens. They were skilled artisans as blacksmiths, textile weavers, and metal workers. Africans were responsible for various innovations, some inaccurately credited to English immigrants. A possible early example of this was reported in Virginia where Governor William Berkeley ordered rice to be planted in 1648. The Africans were also credited with bringing from Africa a musical instrument that led to the creation of the American Banjo.
