Time Gone By

The majority of laborers in the Colonies throughout the 1600's were white indentured servants. [Meaning these were people, both male and female, who were working off a debt they could not repay.] As of 1640, there were only about 250 African slaves in the Colonies. By 1670; however, the number of African slaves had risen to around 2,000. Farmers actually preferred English-speaking indentured servants due to the fact that it was easier to supervise them than Africans who spoke a strange language. It was not until the end of the 1600's that African slave labor began to increase in the colony of Virginia.