As far as the Virginia connection goes, those first Africans from Angola most probably ended up at Jamestown after being captured and enslaved by other marauding Africans (much like those in present day Darfur doing the dirty work of the government that claims total innocence) who then sold/traded them to the the Portuguese who then exported them with great help from the Catholic Church to South America... and, in this case, diverted to Virginia.  There are villains everywhere.

--
Melinda C. P. Skinner
Richmond, VA


 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: John Philip Adams <[log in to unmask]>
> Arab Slavery may have been written on the books as stopping in the 1870's,
> but that is crock. The Muslims still have slaves, sell slaves and enslave
> people all over a lot of the African continent.  
> While everyone is blasting G. Washington, T. Jefferson and all of those
> other nasty slave holders, let's not forget who was selling those prisoners
> and Africans to John Hawkins, Francis Drake, the other English ships'
> captains, the Dutch, the Spanish, the Italians and whoever else showed up on
> the western coast of Africa to transport to the 'new world'. The Arabs were
> the sales agents and the others were the transporters. If you are going to
> complain, complain about the ones who were the instigators, the sellers, and
> the precipitators' of the inequity that we all know occurred called slavery.
> The 1st purchasers of African slaves were the Spanish in the Caribbean and
> Mexico. 
> Please condemn the ones, who are responsible for the sale of their fellow
> Africans and their enemies to the shippers for these problems, but please do
> not try to impose 21st century mores' on 18th century people. 
> 
> John Philip Adams
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Paul Heinegg
> Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 4:36 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Slavery and immoral stance, etc.
> 
> Wasn't slavery also stopped by Islamists in Central Asia in
> the 1870s?  What are the best sources for this particular topic?
> 
> -----------
> I lent someone my copy of "Islam's Black Slaves" by Ronald Segal, but I 
> believe all Islamic countries continued to practice slavery until pressured 
> by the West to stop. It was part of their culture which became tied to their
> 
> religion. Today, one-third the population of Mauretania are still slaves and
> 
> a good percentage of the population of the Sudan.
> Paul