The Register of Free Negroes, Northampton County, Virginia, 1853-1861

Before 1670 position of African immigrants coming into the Eastern Shore of Virginia was not unlike that of most whites; they were “in bondage.” Although in the case of the Africans the bondage had not set time-limit, and was thus in fact slavery, they were “very often able to purchase their freedom (...) acquire land, marry, have families and live an existence not unlike the freed white indentured servant.” After 1670, however, a move began “to discard indentured servitude and have slavery as the only method to supply the work force.”