They Also Arrived in Bondage

[Draggingtree]

They Also Arrived in Bondage

By Timothy A. DuskinJune 13, 2022Blog

Tommie D. Boudreau, chairwoman of the African American Heritage Committee of the Galveston Historical Foundation in Galveston, Texas, recently stated that the Juneteenth national commemoration “gives an accurate picture of United States history because so much has not been shared. African Americans are the only immigrants that were forced to come to America – or the colonies. This gives people an opportunity to understand all of U.S. history.” However, she is mistaken. An accurate picture of history shows that they were not the only immigrants who were forced to come against their will. There were others who were forced to do so who were white.

In colonial times, there were two types of bondage in the original thirteen colonies, indentured servitude and chattel slavery. Indentured servitude was bondage which was limited to a specified period of time, while chattel slavery was bondage for life. There were also both whites and blacks in both kinds of bondage. All in chattel slavery and many, if not most, in indentured servitude were forced to come. In his book Emigrants in Chains: A Social History of Forced Emigration to the Americas of Felons, Destitute Children, Political and Religious Non-Conformists, Vagabonds, Beggars and Other Undesirables, 1607-1776, Peter Wilson Coldham states, “