The Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves of 1807 took effect on January 1, 1808. The highest number of enslaved people imported per year—23,864—were brought in throughout 1807 just before the ban took effect.

Slave trade slowed to a halt during the Revolutionary War. Many slaves were forced to fight on both sides with the unkept promise of freedom.

A large slave uprising in the colony of South Carolina resulted in some 75 deaths, legislation making it harder for slaves to assemble or be educated, and a 10-year moratorium on the African slave trade through the port of Charleston.

The early tobacco industry relied heavily on indentured white labor. But those impoverished Europeans, unlike Africans, had the chance to win freedom and land at the end of their contracts.

In 1619, a Dutch boat carrying 20 enslaved Africans arrived in Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America. That arduous journey 400 years ago marks the brutal beginning of the slave trade in the United States. The following centuries would see hundreds of thousands of Africans forced into slavery as rebellions, revolutions, and civil war further shaped their fates, and the fate of the nation.

The rise and fall of slavery

25,000

The trade’s peak and end (1808)

In 1619, a Dutch boat carrying 20 enslaved Africans arrived in Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America. That arduous journey 400 years ago marks the brutal beginning of the slave trade in the United States. The following centuries would see hundreds of thousands of Africans forced into slavery as rebellions, revolutions, and civil war further shaped their fates, and the fate of the nation.

The Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves of 1807 took effect on January 1, 1808. The highest number of enslaved people imported per year—23,864— were brought in throughout 1807 just before the ban took effect.

20,000

Total number of enslaved people disembarked

15,000

Stono Rebellion (1739 – 1750)

Fight for US Independence (1775 – 1783)

15,000

A large slave uprising in the colony of South Carolina resulted in some 75 deaths, legislation making it harder for slaves to assemble or be educated, and a 10-year moratorium on the African slave trade through the port of Charleston.

Slave trade slowed to a halt during the Revolutionary War. Many slaves were forced to fight on both sides with the unkept promise of freedom.

10,000

10,000

Rise of tobacco

The early tobacco industry relied heavily on indentured white labor. But those impoverished Europeans, unlike Africans, had the chance to win freedom and land at the end of their contracts.

5,000

5,000

0

0

1655

1660

1670

1690

1700

1720

1740

1750

1790

1800

1808

1680

1710

1730

1760

1770

1780