We sometimes imagine that such oppressive laws were put quickly into full force by greedy landowners. But that's not the way slavery was established in colonial America. It happened gradually -- one ...

In "Slavery and the Making of America," an ambitious four-hour PBS documentary told in two parts, viewers are introduced to "the Founding Fathers you never knew." Those enslaved were the "nameless, ...

A great-granddaughter assembles fragments of a lost history. They were recruited, duped, bribed, invited, and taken away from their families, aboard ships headed west. They were carried across the sea ...

"TO BE SOLD: The indentures of a few Servants and Redemptioners from Londonderry. For terms apply To Captain John Willing in sail ship Philadelphia at William Allen Esquire Wharf." - From the ...

In 1640, Virginia’s General Court created what many are calling the nation’s first “forever slave” when the court condemned John Punch, an African, to a life sentence of servitude because he was black ...

Demographers project that whites will become a minority in the U.S. around 2045, dropping below 50% of the population. Between 2010 and 2018, the number of white children fell by 2.8 million, or 7.1%.

Author’s Note: a longer alternative version of this article with footnotes and instructions for use as an education module is available here. An important question follows. Does the common law’s ...

The first enslaved people arrived in Virginia 400 years ago this month. How did slavery shape our country? Here's everything you need to know: Sometime in late August of 1619, more than a year before ...

A viral video of a woman calling for undocumented immigrants to serve terms as indentured servants when they arrive in the U.S. has both received backlash online and caused her to be terminated from ...