Black History: The Culture Before 1619
Week 3
In this four part series, Dr. Keisha (our DEI Consultant) will take us around the world to learn more about Black lives, experiences, and cultures before 1619 (the start of “Black history” as we know it). Hear Dr. Keisha speak more on the subject in this video.
1562 - Spanish Establish the First Slave Colony Georgia
Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, along with around 500 Spanish colonists and 100 slaves, sailed up the East Coast of what is now the United States. And arrived in what is now Georgia on Aug. 9th - this was the first documented instance of enslaved Africans in the United States. Ayllon’s mission was doomed to fail, because the ship carrying their food sank before it reached the shore. Their troubles only intensified. They landed in the fall, it was too late in the season to plant crops, their food supplies sank with the ship, and colonists began to starve. A group of settlers who sought help from indigenous neighbors were killed. Then, an unknown infectious disease spread through the settlement. Within a few months, 350 of the 500 settlers had died. It is unknown how many of the enslaved people perished; the Spanish did not keep a count.
“Then, on Oct. 18, Ayllón himself died... Then, the Spanish historian wrote, “it happened that some of the Negro slaves independently set fire to [a leader’s] house … and as the fire burnt they all gathered to kill him; and in this way they managed to escape.” Thus the first enslaved Africans known to have been brought to the continent were also the first to revolt. “It appears that the Africans ran into the forest, never to be seen again,” Cameron wrote. Weeks later, when the remaining Spanish bailed on the settlement and sailed away, there was no mention of any enslaved Africans onboard.”
Additional reading recommendations:
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
By Ibram X. Kendi