![]() Although historians continue to debate the legal status of the first black arrivals in the colonies, black residents and white indentured servants alike often shared the same state of “half freedom.” 17 In many cases, blacks’ status was indistinguishable from that of white indentured servants. ![]() ![]() In the seventeenth century, when the British established colonies in North America, people of African descent were among the first settlers, arriving as slaves, indentured servants, or free people. The racially restrictive environment in which black western emigration took place evolved over a relatively short period of time and was influenced by a number of economic, social, and political factors. By the time of the great overland migrations, black people lived within a political and social context that had been established to deny them their humanity, restrict their liberty, and frustrate their aspirations. The transformation of the status of black men and women occurred as European settlement of North America increased and the demand for labor rose. ![]()
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