WHEREAS, the 400th Anniversary of the arrival of the first known enslaved Africans in English North America, and the tragic history of American slavery which began with that event is being marked both nationally with the establishment by the U.S. Congress of the “400 years of African American History Commission” and in states across the country by legislative bodies and other organizations, including our own Delaware Heritage Commission, with the enactment of resolutions and proclamations and special observances; and
WHEREAS, in the early Autumn of 1619, the year before the 1620 arrival of the Pilgrims in what became Plymouth, Massachusetts, some 20 Africans arrived in English North America at Point Comfort, near modern-day Hampton, Virginia, aboard the vessel
White Lion
, an English pirate ship, where they were forcibly landed and were traded to Virginia colonists in exchange for food and supplies; and
WHEREAS, these men and women were part of a larger group of some 350 Africans originally captured by Portuguese slavers in West Central Africa in what was probably modern-day Angola, and were the first recorded Africans to arrive in English North America; and
WHEREAS, following their capture in Africa, the 350 captives were loaded aboard the Portuguese ship
San Juan Bautista
, which set sail for the New World, docking near what is now Veracruz, Mexico on August 30, 1619; and
WHEREAS, approximately half of the 350 Africans on board perished during the course of the voyage, leaving 147 Africans to land in Mexico, where fifty of them were divided between two English pirate ships, the
White Lion
and the
Treasurer
; and
WHEREAS, in his 1962 book,
Before the Mayflower: A History of the Negro in America
, journalist Lerone Bennett wrote, “Few ships, before or since, have unloaded a more momentous cargo”; and
WHEREAS, although the enslavement and forced servitude of Africans had already been underway elsewhere in the world for more than a century by 1619, this event is generally considered to be the first chapter in the long and tragic history of slavery in English North America; and
WHEREAS, after its beginning in the Virginia colony, the institution of slavery quickly expanded into other parts of English North America, including the area which became the State of Delaware, where in 1639 the first known African slave, a man known as “Black Anthony,” came to be a resident of the colony of New Sweden on the Delaware in the area of present-day Wilmington; and
WHEREAS, from around 1500 until 1875, Africans seized against their will in parts of their native continent by slave traders were taken not only to the United States but also to South America, the Caribbean, the Middle East and even to parts of Europe to be held in involuntary servitude; and
WHEREAS, the institution of slavery was formally ended in 1863 in those Southern states that had seceded from the Union when President Abraham Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation; and
WHEREAS, following the end of hostilities in the Civil War in the Spring of 1865, the U.S. Congress enacted the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which had the effect of abolishing slavery throughout the United States, including the four slave states, Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri, which had remained in the Union during the Civil War; and
WHEREAS, the 13th Amendment became the law of the land in December, 1865, following its ratification by three-fourths of the states, many of the harmful effects of that terrible institution lingered long after slavery itself was struck down, continuing to be felt to some degree into the present day; and
WHEREAS, Delaware history is replete with sad incidents relating to slavery and its tragic consequences, as well as with moments of greatness in which some Delawareans, both white and black, found the courage within themselves to repudiate slavery and to stand up to a power structure which, during the years when it remained legal, used the full might of the law to keep the system of slavery intact and to prevent the escape of slaves into freedom; and
WHEREAS, these brave men and women included such black abolitionists as Samuel D. Burris of Kent County and Mary Ann Shadd Carey, a Wilmington native who came from a family that risked their own freedom to aid escaped slaves, and white abolitionists such as John Hunn and Thomas Garrett, both of whom along with Burris, suffered and were prosecuted for their efforts to aid slaves in their escape into freedom; and
WHEREAS, their participation at great personal risk in what came to be known as “the Underground Railroad,” in which former slaves were assisted in their escape and flight to free states in the north, constitutes one of the finest chapters in Delaware’s—and America’s—long history; and
WHEREAS, the 400th Anniversary of that profoundly tragic event at Port Comfort, Virginia, and all the pain and suffering that led from it down through the annals of American history reminds us of the importance of remembering all of the history of this nation, both good and bad, if we are to find positive paths to a future America where each and every American of whatever race, sex, religion, or creed can develop fully and live peacefully in a world of true equality enriched by the cultural heritage and history of all our peoples;
NOW, THEREFORE:
BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the 150th General Assembly of the State of Delaware, the House of Representatives concurring therein, that the members do hereby join the Delaware Heritage Commission in solemn remembrance of the arrival of the first known Africans in English North America and the system of slavery in our state and some 14 other American states, and urge all Delawareans to familiarize themselves with this history.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Delaware General Assembly joins the Delaware Heritage Commission in honoring our African American brothers and sisters and their ancestors for their fortitude and courage in persevering in the face of, first, the terrible reality of slavery, and, later, the continuation of racism in our society, and overcoming these evils to build a culture of extraordinary richness and breadth, which has done so much to enrich the lives of all Americans over the past four centuries.
