The history of African slavery in North America predates the well-known arrival of the White Lion in 1619. As early as 1526, enslaved Africans were brought to the South Carolina coast as part of the expedition led by Spanish explorer Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón. These individuals, whose names and exact numbers are not well-documented, escaped their captors and are believed to have sought refuge among Native American communities, though their ultimate fate remains uncertain. The following year, in 1527, Estevanico, a Moor, became the first documented enslaved African to set foot in North America as part of the Spanish Narváez expedition. Estevanico’s journey took him through the Gulf Coast and the American Southwest, marking a significant, though often overlooked, moment in the history of African presence in the Americas.
Enslaved Africans were also part of subsequent Spanish expeditions, including Hernando de Soto’s exploration of Florida in 1539 and the founding of St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565, the first permanent European settlement in what is now the United States. These early instances highlight that African slavery in North America began nearly a century before the English colonies became central to the transatlantic slave trade. However, it was the arrival of the White Lion in 1619 that marked a pivotal moment in the institutionalization of African slavery in the English colonies.
On August 20, 1619, the White Lion, an English privateer operating under a Dutch letter of marque issued by Maurice, Prince of Orange, arrived at Point Comfort in the English colony of Virginia, in present-day Hampton Roads. The ship, commanded by Captain John Colyn Jope, carried “20 and odd Negroes,” as described by John Rolfe, secretary of the Virginia colony, in a letter to Edwin Sandys, treasurer of the Virginia Company of London. These African captives, likely among thousands seized during 1618–1619 in raids led by African forces under nominal Portuguese leadership against the Kingdom of Ndongo in present-day Angola, were originally transported on the Portuguese slave ship São João Bautista from Luanda, Angola, bound for Veracruz in New Spain (modern-day Mexico).
In the Gulf of Mexico, the São João Bautista was intercepted by the White Lion and another privateer, the Treasurer, commanded by Daniel Elfrith. Acting under the authority of their Dutch letters of marque, the two ships captured a portion of the São João Bautista’s human cargo, dividing the enslaved Africans between them. The White Lion then sailed to Virginia, where its crew traded the captives for food and supplies, as the ship was reportedly in dire need of provisions. According to Rolfe, the captives were purchased by Virginia’s governor and cape merchant “at the best and easiest rates they could.”
Although these Africans were initially sold as indentured servants—a status that, in theory, allowed for eventual freedom after a period of service—their arrival is widely regarded as the beginning of African slavery in the English colonies of North America. Over time, the system of indentured servitude for Africans evolved into a race-based, hereditary institution of chattel slavery, fundamentally shaping the social, economic, and political landscape of colonial America.
The White Lion’s arrival in Virginia was not an isolated event but part of the broader dynamics of the transatlantic slave trade and European colonial competition. The early 17th century saw European powers, including the English, Dutch, Spanish, and Portuguese, vying for control over trade routes and colonial territories. Privateering, often sanctioned by letters of marque, was a common practice, allowing ships like the White Lion to legally attack and plunder enemy vessels. The interception of the São João Bautista reflects the complex interplay of European rivalries and African complicity in the slave trade, as African raiders, often in collaboration with European powers, played a significant role in capturing and supplying enslaved individuals.
The Kingdom of Ndongo, located in modern-day Angola, was a frequent target of such raids due to its strategic position and the Portuguese presence in Luanda. The captives aboard the São João Bautista were likely victims of these conflicts, forcibly taken from their homes and subjected to the brutal conditions of the Middle Passage—the transatlantic journey that claimed countless lives due to disease, malnutrition, and inhumane treatment.
Among the Africans sold off the White Lion were two individuals, Isabella and Anthony, who would go on to form one of the first recorded African families in English America. By 1624, Isabella and Anthony had married and given birth to a son, William Tucker, named after a prominent Virginian planter. William’s birth marked a significant milestone as the first documented Black child born in the English colonies. The family’s story, though sparsely recorded, offers a glimpse into the lives of early Africans in Virginia, who navigated the precarious transition from indentured servitude to the hardening racial caste system that would define American slavery.
The status of Africans like Isabella and Anthony in the early Virginia colony was initially ambiguous. Unlike later generations, some early African arrivals were treated as indentured servants, with the possibility of earning freedom after a set period. However, as the demand for labor grew and racial ideologies solidified, the English colonies increasingly codified slavery, stripping Africans and their descendants of rights and perpetuating their enslavement across generations.
The arrival of the White Lion in 1619 is often cited as a foundational moment in American history, marking the beginning of African slavery in the English colonies. While earlier Spanish expeditions introduced enslaved Africans to North America, the White Lion’s voyage had a lasting impact due to its role in establishing a precedent for the systematic enslavement of Africans in what would become the United States. The event set in motion a centuries-long struggle for freedom, equality, and justice that continues to shape American society.
The story of the White Lion also underscores the global nature of the transatlantic slave trade, involving not only European powers but also African polities and individuals caught in the violence of colonial expansion. The lives of those first Africans in Virginia, including Isabella, Anthony, and their son William, represent both the profound human cost of slavery and the resilience of those who endured it, laying the foundations for African American communities and cultures.