African Woman Brought to Virginia

From 1618 to 1620, the Portuguese fought the people of Ndongo in western Africa. Thousands of African people were abducted and killed by African warlords and mercenaries employed by the Portuguese in West Central Africa. Many were marched from their villages to the port of Luanda. Some escaped. Some died. They were often kept in terrible conditions for months until 350 to 400 could be packed together on an available vessel for the journey across the sea. Survivors were shipped in bondage, at first to the mines of New Spain, now known as Mexico, and the fields of Brazil.

The Portuguese had been in West Central Africa for some time — building a large trade industry between Africa, Europe and the Americas. There is evidence that some African people had been baptized in the Christian faith before being enslaved. Others were baptized shortly before being loaded onto ships.

In August 1619, a privateer vessel, White Lion, landed in Virginia at Point Comfort, present day Hampton, with a cargo of more than 20 West Central African people. While raiding in the Caribbean the White Lion, along with privateers from another ship, Treasurer, had seized part of a cargo of African people from a Portuguese slave ship named Sao Jao Bautista bound from the African city of Luanda to Veracruz, in present day Mexico. A short time after the White Lion stopped at Point Comfort, the Treasurer arrived carrying more African people.

The status of the West Central Africans in Virginia is uncertain, but some were “bought” by Governor Yeardley and Abraham Peirsey — meaning they were either enslaved or indentured servants. Without papers of indenture (as carried by most white servants), these new arrivals had no protected legal standing and could be easily mistreated.

Because so many African people in 17th-century Virginia came from the same region, early arrivals may have recognized some of those who came later and maintained shared identities. Among them were skilled craftsmen and farmers whose influence on the English is clear from the governor’s order that crops be planted in 1648 “on the advice of our Negroes.”

By the 1650s there were free people of color in the colony, but most did not do as well economically as free white Virginians. Although legal discrimination was evident by the late 17th century, African people, such as Anthony Johnson, did prosper in Virginia. He owned land in Northampton County, had one servant, and enslaved one person.

The first law recognizing the existence of slavery in Virginia was passed in 1660, and a law making it hereditary was passed in 1662. As landowners created laws to control the labor they needed, institutionalized slavery gradually evolved from these laws and a “slave code” was produced by the General Assembly in 1705.

Few records exist to shed light on the lives of the first African people in Virginia — either before or after their arrival; however, there is some historical information about one of them — a young woman called “Angelo” who came on the Treasurer in 1619. The Muster Roll of 1625 reveals that Angelo was still in Virginia — a servant in the household of Captain William Peirce.

Angelo came from Ndongo, a country in west central Africa. She may have lived in a small village of several hundred people, surrounded by a palisade. Or she may have lived in a large town with thousands of inhabitants. She probably lived in a one-room house, round or rectangular, built of wattle and daub. The roof of her house was made with palm leaves or other natural coverings. A central hearth provided light and heat. Doors and ceilings were so low and one had to bend to enter them. In Angelo’s culture, people ate pounded millet grain, sorghum, yams, beans and peas which the women grew. Women also grew tobacco. Goats, cattle and sheep were raised by the men and provided meat. Men also hunted game and fished. Palm trees provided cooking oil and the sap was used to make palm wine.

Jamestown Settlement’s introductory film, “1607: A Nation Takes Root,” features the story of Angelo in Angola. Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation photo.

Angelo probably wore a simple garment around her waist that fell to her knees, made of cloth produced from bark fibers. This cloth was made by pounding the bark from certain trees to produce thin threads which were woven into cloth. Angelo may have worn jewelry made of copper or silver. She may also have worn beads around her neck, wrists and ankles. Women sometimes decorated their hair with feathers.

In addition to being farmers, many of Angelo’s people were excellent craftsmen. They made tools and weapons of fine steel, and smelted and worked copper, lead and other metals. They also mined tar and rock salt. In addition to bark cloth, cotton cloth was also manufactured. Weaving and woodcarving crafts provided ways for artistic expression. Finely woven mats hung on the walls of most houses. The people used nzimbu shells and hammered copper bracelets as money at local markets.

In Ndongo, local leaders called “sobas” were very powerful and governed along with powerful local family heads. Villages were self-governing, following rules that had become custom. Christianity, brought to Ndongo by the Portuguese, was practiced along with local religions and Christian shrines were often placed alongside traditional local religious shrines. Religious practices often combined traditional ways with Christian worship. Religious objects were elaborately carved and decorated. Angelo received religious instruction in the Catholic faith and she took the Christian name Angelo at her baptism.

Angelo came from a culture where a person’s status came from their role in society. Political and military elites were considered to be most important. Next came religious leaders and then commoners. Servants or enslaved persons were at the lowest end of society. Elites wore more elaborate clothing, had better housing and carried symbols of authority such as staffs.

Angelo’s people played a variety of musical instruments such as drums, tambourines, flutes and fifes, trumpets, bells, horns, guitars and lutes. People danced for recreation and at festivals. Weddings were celebrated with great public festivals and a man could have more than one wife. Children were highly valued.

In 1619, Angelo was captured and enslaved by a Portuguese army making war on her native land. She was placed on a ship sailing for the Spanish colony of New Spain. Angelo was at sea many days while the ship sailed across the ocean. The ship was captured by privateers and she was brought to Virginia. Angelo was sold to a tobacco farmer. Her status of enslaved versus servant is not known.

Angelo came to Virginia against her will, taken from the land and culture she knew. Arriving in a strange land with no personal possessions and only her memories of home, Virginia probably seemed a very strange place. Even her name was changed. By 1625, Angelo belonged to a prominent Virginia planter named William Pierce who also owned the services of several English indentured servants. It is not known if Angelo ever became a free person in Virginia.

Learn more about the first documented Africans to arrive in Virginia in 1619.