First African captives in Jamestown, Virginia

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

On this day in 1619, the first African captives were brought to Jamestown, Virginia. While the initial group of “20 and odd” captives likely started out as indentured servants, this initial group is recognized as the beginning of the traumatic American slave trade experience.

From NewsOne:

"Even as the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution effectively outlawed slavery (but not racism), the effects of the practice have haunted Blacks for generations.

"One has to wonder what it must have been like to come to a new country…against your will. With the ocean keeping you permanently distanced from all you knew, it must have been a sad and terrible existence indeed.

"It is imperative that we remember those ancestors who gave so much and got so little, with their humanity being stripped from their very core. Today, NewsOne remembers these first captives who were stolen from their homes — never to see their loved ones and experience their God-given right to freedom again."

Get up on history here:

http://newsone.com/2031761/african-slaves-jamestown/