The Heritage of Slavery

During the warmer months I ride my bike around Jamestown Island almost every day. It was here in May of 1607 that the first permanent English colony was established and the roots of present day America were planted in that thick clay soil. Here those first colonists struggled to survive in an environment that was welcoming on the one hand and hostile on the other. They selected a spot that sat on the shores of the James River which could easily be defended against Spanish marauders and hostile Indians. However, they failed to recognize that the water they were drinking was briny and caused frequent intestinal disorders or death. There was and remains to this day significant amounts of wild game on the island such as deer, turkey, possum, squirrel and raccoon as well as a river teeming with fish, yet they almost starved because of their inability to harvest this bounty and because of conflicts with the Indians.

As I ride through the forest, I often think of the many souls that rest in eternity on that island and how their desire for a new life gave birth to the greatness of America that we enjoy today. Each day they confronted the environmental obstacles to survival, constructed homes to provide warmth and protection from the elements, built fortifications to protect against assailants, hunted and secured food, developed strong relationships with each other, argued, discussed ways to improve their lives and otherwise participated in this human drama we call life.

Each step they took forged an opportunity for our American nation. Here great things were accomplished by very common men. Here great tragedies were also birthed. In 1619, slightly more than a decade after the establishment of the outpost, the future landscape of America was forever changed. On a day in mid-July about twenty Africans on a Dutch ship arrived and were traded for provisions. These first Africans were classified as indentured servants as many of the first English arrivals were. However, as time progressed this need for labor gradually morphed into the tragic American slave trade of the of the next 250 years. In the plantations, that over time gradually became established along the James River, slavery flourished and expanded to become a grotesque way of life. The seeds were sowed along the James River for later slave revolts, a civil war and years of strife for the African-American citizens of our now great nation.

Our nation has traveled many paths since that event and while the seeds of a tragedy were sowed, there were seeds of greatness formed that have allowed African-American citizens to forge a tradition of excellence and contribute immeasurably to our history. America would not have achieved the bounty that we enjoy today without the many contributions of a people that have their roots in slavery. Medicine, agriculture, architecture. industry, economics, art, music and every other facet of American life today is interwoven with the fabric of slavery that grew from the day when these first people arrived.

It seems that Black History month is a time of remembrance, a time of sorrow and a time of joy as we reflect on the myriad of contributions to America that have been made by those of us that have inherited our destiny from the events of that long ago occurrence. That tragic event has now evolved into a time of thankfulness as we reflect on the many achievements that have been born from that day almost 400 years ago.