In an upcoming podcast episode of Churchianity, we discuss the 1619 arrival of over twenty slaves to the Virginia colony, which kicked off the count for the 400-year prophecy we covered in a Scripture study video related to that topic. But the year 1619 being marked as the beginning of slavery in America has been called into question by some, simply because of a Virginia census date. To summarize for those of you who may be a little unfamiliar with what I’m referring to, in late August of 1619, an English privateer ship dubbed the White Lion docked at Point Comfort in Hampton, on the site of what is now Fort Monroe. Aboard ship were “20 and odd Negroes”—meaning around 30 enslaved Africans, or Israelites, who were sold at Point Comfort to officials of the Virginia Company in exchange for needed supplies. These souls were listed by John Rolfe of the Virginia Company as the first recorded “Africans”—who we know were of Israelite descent—to enter into society in mainland English America. Here’s the supposed problem, however: back in the late ’90s, the Magazine of Virginia Genealogy published an article that referenced a census from March-May 1619. That census listed 15 black men and 17 black women among the residents of Virginia, which totaled 928 inhabitants. The argument is this: the census was supposedly taken in March of 1619, but the slave ship didn’t arrive until five months later, in August of 1619, or so it is claimed. If you dig deep enough, you’ll see that even “credible” historic resources like Virtual Jamestown.org, headed by a professor of history no less, claims on their site, under the 1619 entry:
“They [meaning our 20 and odd slaves who were the first to arrive] may not have been the first, since some 32 Africans were noted five months earlier in a Virginia census of 1619.”
This may seem like a conspiracy of some sort at first glance, but it is cleared up quite easily. When looking at history, one has to take many things into account, including the important factor of how time was reckoned in the period you’re looking into. This is the very problem with this present issue. The Jamestown and American Revolution Settlement Museum at Yorktown gets it right. Stated on their site is the following:
“Thanks to the records assembled at ‘ye beginning of March 1619’—that is March 1620, New Style—we know that there were 892 European colonists living in Virginia. The population included 670 able-bodied men, 119 women, 39 ‘serviceable boys,’ and 57 children. This large number of youths and children included the young orphans rounded up from the streets of London and shipped to Virginia the previous year. Besides Europeans, the Virginia colony included 32 Africans (17 women and 15 men) and 4 Indians, all described as ‘Others not Christians in service of the English’ and ‘in ye service of severall planters.’ ”
Why they say “that is March 1620, New Style” is this: not until the eighteenth century (or 1751 to be precise), the English began their civil year on March 25th rather than January 1st. Thus, a census dated March 1619 would be in fact be March 1620 going by the current Gregorian calendar. You can read all about that simple fact here: So the “32 Africans (17 women and 15 men)” recorded in the 1619 census, is really a 1620 census taken seven months after the slave ship landed, which included the same “20 and odd” who comprised those numbers. But as the prophet Isaiah said:
“Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread.”
—Isaiah 8:12 |
