PAST & PRESENT
GIVING BIRTH TO A TRADITION Located on the Eastern Seaboard where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean, Hampton Roads was the landing place in 1619 of the first Africans in British North America. The descendants of these enslaved Africans, whose number was listed as “20 and odd” became entrepreneurs and landowners, heroes of the American Revolutionary War, and freedom fighters on the Underground Railroad during the Civil War. Hampton Roads served as the site of the first southern reading of the Emancipation Proclamation. The generations that followed built Black communities in Hampton Roads, and through perseverance and resilience, laid a path of freedom for Black people in the region.
GIVING BIRTH TO A TRADITION OF GIVING Hampton Roads has a unique place in the history of Black philanthropy. The traits that characterized Black giving in Hampton Roads throughout its history are visible in communities across the nation even as philanthropic practices grew and evolved over time. Africans brought with them to the new colonies a tradition of giving, caring and sharing. These enslaved people were productive members of Angola’s Ndongo kingdom and spoke either Kimbundu or Kikongo.1 Because the Portuguese required prisoners to be baptized, they may have been Christian as well. Whether baptized or
not, the first Africans arriving in Virginia were most likely familiar with Christianity, which was introduced to the Angola region of Africa before the Atlantic slave trade. Many of the first Africans were both multi-lingual and skilled in farming, herding, and blacksmithing.2 The philanthropy of early Blacks was focused on developing and sustaining their communities. This historical narrative highlights examples of Black philanthropy in Hampton Roads: the goals, patterns and practices of the region’s Black communities as they built and supported their communities. The history that began with the first enslaved Africans established a rich legacy for Black giving in Hampton Roads. In a region of many firsts, Black people in Hampton Roads made significant contributions and achieved remarkable accomplishments that not only improved their lives and the wellbeing of their communities but changed the course of history, culture and definitions of freedom and liberty in this country. THE FIRST AFRICANS The first Africans in British North America landed at Point Comfort, Virginia, near present day Hampton. Facing harrowing circumstances and enduring unimaginable hardships, these early Africans were enslaved twice. Kidnapped first by the Portuguese, they were marched 200 miles to board an overcrowded slave ship for the long, inhumane journey to Veracruz, Mexico. The Portuguese ship carrying the captives was intercepted by Dutch and English slave traders who then took the enslaved Africans, sailed to Point Comfort, and traded them to Virginia’s first governor for food and supplies. The captured Africans were then dispersed among White plantation owners. The arrival of Africans in 1619 marked a turning point in what was to become the United States. African skills in construction and agriculture, including the cultivation of tobacco, contributed to the wealth of the new nation. By 1630, racism and slavery were clearly stamped on American soil, as evidenced by increasingly onerous laws and codes hindering Black freedom and threatening the well-being of free Blacks, if not all Blacks.
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