How slavery grew in the colonies, and the lives and resistance of enslaved Africans

Grade 8 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   How slavery became law in Virginia (cards A to D). Card A, from the National Park Service (NPS) page "African Americans at Jamestown": it quotes John Rolfe's report of 1619, "About the latter end of August, a Dutch man of Warr of the burden of a 160 tunes arrived at Point-Comfort", bringing "20. and odd [Africans], w[hich] the Governo[r] and Cape Merchant bought for victuall[s]". The page says: "The year was 1619, and as an institution slavery did not yet exist in Virginia." It adds that the ship was "not aboard a Dutch ship as reported by John Rolfe, but an English warship, White Lion" and that the Africans "were captives removed from the Portuguese slave ship, San Juan Bautista". It also says: "Rolfe's reporting the White Lion as a Dutch warship was a clever ruse to transfer blame away from the English for piracy of the slave ship to the Dutch." Card B, from another NPS Historic Jamestowne page, "First Africans at Jamestown": "In mid-August 1619 John Rolfe wrote in a letter" about the arrival. "Traded for provisions, these Africans were loaded onto another ship and brought to Jamestown and placed into servitude." It says "these first African settlers in Virginia were destined to spend a period of at least seven years in indentured servitude before gaining freedom" and that "By the third quarter of the seventeenth century, however, term servitude evolved into bondage for life, or slavery, for many Africans in the colony." Card C, the NPS timeline of laws and facts (quotations from the page): 1630s, it was "customary practice to hold some [Africans] in a form of life service", but "some blacks were able to hold on to their status of being indentured servants, thus, eventually gaining their freedom". 1640: "John Punch, a runaway indentured Servant, first documented slave for life." 1662: "Slavery was recognized in the statutory law of the colony." 1667: "Baptism does not bring freedom. Until the General Assembly outlawed it, baptism could be the grounds for a black slave to obtain his/her freedom. It was considered for a period of time that it was not proper for a Christian to enslave a fellow Christian." 1705: "Slave laws were codified." Card D, a summary in our words of the Virginia assembly's December 1662 act (Hening, Statutes at Large, volume 2, page 170, as transcribed in a university course reader): because "doubts have arisen" whether children of an Englishman and a Black woman were slave or free, the act declares that children born in the colony are bond or free according to the condition of the mother.

2. 1.

   The NPS page calls Rolfe's Dutch label a "clever ruse" to shift blame. How strong is card A's evidence for that motive, Bo asks?

   • Strong: the label is wrong, so Rolfe must have lied on purpose to hide the truth from London
   • Weak: a letter with a wrong ship label is useless as evidence about anything
   • Strong: Rolfe wrote "a Dutch man of Warr", so he knew the ship was English
   • Weak: card A shows the label differs from later research, but not why Rolfe wrote it
3. 2.

   Rolfe's own words in card A say "the latter end of August"; card B says mid-August. How should a reader treat the difference, Esme asks?

   • Throw out both cards, because they give different dates for the arrival
   • Say two different ships arrived that year, one in mid-August and one in late August
   • Prefer Rolfe's own words and treat mid-August as the page's looser summary
   • Trust card B, because a page that is older must be more accurate
4. 3.

   A student claims: "Slavery was part of Virginia's law from the first Africans' arrival in 1619." How strong is that claim, Jun asks?

   • Weak: card A says no institution of slavery yet existed, and card C dates the law to 1662
   • Strong: slave laws were codified by 1705, so they must already have existed back in 1619
   • Strong: the Africans were bought for food, which shows they were property under law
   • Strong: card C lists 1619 as the year of Virginia's first law about slavery in the colony
5. 4.

   Card A dates the arrival to 1619, and card C dates the statute recognizing slavery to 1662. How many years apart are they, Kira asks?

   • 53 years
   • 43 years, 1662 minus 1619
   • 22 years, the gap from John Punch's case in 1640 to the 1662 law
   • 86 years, the gap from the arrival to the 1705 code
6. 5.

   Card B says at least seven years of indentured servitude. Someone who arrived in 1619 and served exactly seven years would be free no earlier than when, Luz asks?

   • 1633, found by adding fourteen years
   • 1640, the year of the first documented life servitude in card C
   • 1612, found by subtracting the seven years
   • 1626, seven years after 1619
7. 6.

   Cards C and D together explain how slavery could last across generations. Which link is best, Milo asks?

   • The act ended indentured servitude for English servants in the colony
   • A child's status followed the mother, so children of enslaved women were born enslaved
   • A child's status followed the father, so freedom passed down through free fathers each time
   • The 1705 code came first, so the 1662 act was written to repeat it
8. 7.

   Card C's 1667 entry says baptism does not bring freedom. What problem was that law fixing, Noah asks?

   • The law banned baptism for people throughout Virginia so that no more claims could be made
   • Some enslaved people claimed freedom after baptism, since enslaving a Christian seemed improper
   • Baptism had been forbidden to enslaved people, and the law now allowed baptism for them
   • The law freed any baptized person in the colony from that year onward, if they asked
9. 8.

   A student claims: "By 1640 all Africans in Virginia were enslaved for life." How strong is that claim given card C, Pia asks?

   • Strong: card C says Punch was freed in the end, so life servitude was already the common rule
   • Weak: the 1662 statute is later, so the 1640 case cannot be counted as evidence
   • Weak: card C calls Punch the first documented case; some in the 1630s gained freedom
   • Strong: John Punch's case in 1640 shows that the practice covered the whole African population
10. 9.

    How did the legal position of Africans in Virginia change from 1619 to 1705, using cards A and C, Ren asks?

    • It moved from a collected code in 1619 to custom by 1705
    • It changed because Dutch law replaced English law in 1662
    • It stayed the same, because slavery was written into law from the first ship
    • It moved from no law of slavery, to custom, to a statute, to a collected code
11. 10.

    Card A quotes Rolfe that the Africans were "bought for victuall[s]", and card B says "Traded for provisions". What do the two phrases say, Zee asks?

    • They were bought with gold from the Virginia Company's treasury
    • They were paid wages in tobacco, so they were hired rather than traded
    • They were exchanged for food and supplies, not for money
    • They were bought by Dutch merchants who then sailed away with them