A ship arrived in the British colony of Virginia in late August 1619 with a load of twenty to thirty enslaved persons from Africa. Their arrival ushered in a barbaric and unprecedented system of chattel slavery in America, which would last for the next 250 years. This is sometimes referred to as the country's original sin, but it is so much more: it is the source of so much that still defines the US.
Race and slavery: The 1619 Project
This is a book that speaks directly to our current situation, contextualizing the racial and caste systems in which we live. It unveils long-hidden realities about our country's founding and construction and how slavery's influence did not cease with freedom, but continues to shape modern American culture. The project looked into the history of slavery in America.