By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
March 26, 2007

Slavery started in the United States in 1619 when twenty Afrikans arrived at Jamestown, Virginia, aboard a Dutch ship. According to the 1850 census figures, there were 3.5 million Afrikan slaves in the United States.

On 1st January, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation thereby freeing slaves in those states that had rebelled against the federal government. Afrikan slaves were not freed in states that were still under federal control. Subsequently, on 18 December, 1865, the 13th amendment to the constitution freed all slaves in the United States.
Continue reading America’s slavery experience: Underground Railroad →