United States History Student Edition

“ We were landed . . . about Virginia county, where we saw few or none of our native Africans, and not one soul who could talk to me. . . . I was now exceedingly miserable

. . . and wishing for death rather than anything else. ” — The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano , by Olaudah Equiano, 1789

» Enslaved Africans were brought to the English colonies in the early 1600s, as depicted in this modern illustration. They were most often captured by other Africans and sold to Europeans. Olaudah Equiano was one such enslaved person. According to Equiano, he was kidnapped from West Africa at age 11 and taken to the Americas. He bought his freedom after ten years of slavery and published the story of his life in 1789.

» The population of the American colonies grew astonishingly fast. The population counts included free people, indentured servants, and enslaved persons. They did not include Native Americans.

“ Brothers, these people from the unknown world will cut down our groves, spoil our hunting and planting grounds, and drive us and our children from the graves of our fathers, and our council fires, and our women and children will be enslaved. ” — Speech by Metacomet, a leader of the Wampanoag people of the Massachusetts area, about the encroachments of English settlers, 1675

PHOTOS: (t)Hulton Archive/Getty Images, (b)Kean Collection/Archive Photos/Getty Images; TEXT: (t)Equiano, Olaudah. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Boston: Olaudah Equiano. (b) Apes, William. Eulogy on King Philip, as Pronounced at the Odeon, in Federal Street, Boston, by the Rev. William Apes, an Indian. Boston: William Apes.

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