88 JULY/AUGUST 2019
It is through the markings carved into pipes
and other material objects, mostly found
through archaeological investigations, that
historians are given a glimpse into the Afri-
cans’ personal lives. Their religion, ethnicity,
and culture survived the Middle Passage and
took hold in the colonies. The first Africans in
Virginia were followed by more than 400,000
people captured and brought directly from West
and central Africa to the North American slave
ports, from New England to New Orleans. Writ-
ten records are mostly limited to names, sex, and
monetary value, and occasionally occupation;
more-detailed descriptions typically are found
only in advertisements about runaway slaves.
This leaves historians with a limited amount
of information, and as such, a heavy reliance on
archaeological data and oral tradition.Dark Legacy
While slavery existed for millennia in other
cultures around the world before 1619, it trans-
formed significantly in the Americas. Tradition-
al African slavery was vastly different from whatFIRST FAMILY
By 1624, two of the 1619 arrivals, “Anthony”
and “Isabella,” were parents of “William,” the
first documented African-American born in
Virginia. Their son took the last name Tucker,
as was commonplace, from his enslaver.
Many of their descendants remained in the
Tidewater region of Virginia. Some are buried
in the family cemetery (right) cared for by the
William Tucker 1624 Society.AMY BRIGGSwith Catholic rites. Archaeologists working at
colonial sites have found traces of it in the mate-
rial culture; the Kongo cosmogram, a cross-like
mark, often with a circle encompassing it, can
be found carved into objects such as pipes and
bowls and into walls and metal throughout the
African diaspora. This symbol, often mistaken
for a cross, had a double meaning; it could pass as
Christian while also performing essential ritual
purposes. This symbol was used to pray to and
conjure the African ancestors for protection.PRECIOUS
THINGS
Cowrie shells (above)
were valuable in
many West African
cultures and
used as currency.
When found at
archaeological sites
in the “New World,”
they indicate an
African presence.
ALBUM
LOOKING FOR ANGELA
S
CHOLARS are searching for
a woman named Angela,
one of the captured Ango-
lans to arrive on the Tr e a -
surer in 1619. She was listed as
“Angelo” in the 1624 census, liv-
ing in Lieutenant William Pierce’s
home in Jamestown, along with
three white indentured servants.
Although her name sounds mas-
culine, she is listed as a womanand referred to as both Angelo
and Angela. She was born in
Angola around 1600, and her
name was likely changed by her
enslavers. In 2017, archaeologists
at Jamestown began excavating
her site and found a cowrie shell,
which likely belonged to Angela.
They believe it represents some-
thing important from her African
homeland. In West and central
Africa, cowrie shells were used
as currency, adornment, and in
religious practices.