What century did african american slavery start?

[Amy O]

Im doing a history project and I know nothing about african american slavery, does anyone know when it started for african americans?

[Matt]

Geez.... since there were africans.... they enslaved eachother

[staisil]

The 17th century in the United States. It is true that Great Britain and the United States did not start slavery. Africa and countries in the Middle East have been selling their own people for hundreds of years and they still do it today.

[d_a_n_06]

The triangle trade, which is the more or less starting point for mass African slavery will begin sometime in the late 17th early 18th century. When many of the Indians that the Europeans enslaved began to fall to diseases such as Smallpox, the Europeans felt they needed slaves that were immune to European diseases, who could still, at the same time, could adapt to hot southern climates. In comes Sub-Saharan African slaves, who, unlike the Indians, didn't fall to diseases, but could still work in the hot climates of Caribbean islands and southern colonies.

[Louise C]

The Spanish and Portuguese began transporting slaves to South America in the 16th century. The english began transporting slaves into their colonies in the 17th century.

There were free black people in the early colonies as well as slaves. A woman called Mary Johnson may have been the first African-american. She arrived in Virginia some time before 1620 as the maid of a Virginia planter. Johnson and her husband were indentured servants, and once they earned their freedom, they acquired a 250-acre farm and five indentured servants of their own. In 'America's Women' Gail Collins writes:

'By the mid-seventeenth century, a free black population had begun to emerge in both the North and the South. African american women, who weren't bound by the same social constraints as white women, frequently set up their own businesses, running boarding-houses, hair salons, or restaurants. Catering was a particularly popular career, as was trading.

In Charleston, South Carolina, black women took over the local market, selling vegetables, chickens, and other produce they acquired from the growing population of slaves, who generally had small plots of land beside their cabins. The city came to depend on the women for its supply of fresh food, and whites complained long and loud about the power and independence of the trading women. In 1686, South Carolina passed a law prohibiting the the purchase of good sfrom slaves, but it had little effect. A half century later, Charleston officials were still complaining about the "exorbitant price" that black women charged for "many articles necessary for the support of the inhabitants".

The relative openness of life for African Americans only lasted while the black population was small - in the mid-seventeenth century about 300 black Virginians lived among 15,000 whites. As the number of slaves grew, white Americans began self-consciously marking the differences between the races. White servants complained about being forced to work with blacks, and legislatures passed laws making it more difficult for them to gain their freedom, acquire property, or intermarry. Blacks and whites had married legally in many of the early settlements, and interracial love affairs were common. In Virginia, officials began requiring any white woman who had an illegitimate child with a a black man to pay a fine of 15 pounds or spend five years in indentured service. In 1662, Virginia legislatures gave white masters free rein to molest their female slaves by declaring that children of slave women were slaves for life, no matter who their fathers were.'

[Joy]

That subject would have a parallel history with American agricultural development. What was the primary reason for the need of so much labor? What were the jobs? Ex: Look up the history of cotton in America. Labor was definitely needed in that scenario. Also look into the caribbean history. Slaves were almost always brought to the island first. The caribbean has/had many ports on numerous island that were used for getting fresh supplies that included human cargo. OHhh gotta get ready for work,,,,good luck with getting a answer. Also try British history,they had the most ships on the sea and financed most of those "investments".

[yankee_sailor]

don't forget to mention that about only 10% of the slave trade was to what is now the USA. 75% or so was to Brazil and mainland South America and the rest to the Caribbean Islands.

Do a google search for something like "percent of slave trade " and be amazed at what you find.... as an example

"The Final Victims: Foreign Slave Trade to North America, 1783-1810 .
The volume of the North American trade still accounts for barely five percent of the slave trade as a whole........
http://eh.net/bookreviews/library/0973 - 14k

[J&C H]

You really are out of touch. The first answer is the best. However, African Americans did not come about until the late 20th Century. I know 100s of black people who are more American then you. I do not know one who says AFRICAN AMERICAN. That is a Jesse Jackson idea or one of those losers. There were no African American slaves, back then they were Negroes or blacks.
If you were less politically correct and more astute you may have written an intelligent question. But, you didn't.