Winthrop Jordan's White Over Black is surely one of the most important works that touches on this subject. Also see the more recent book by Kathleen Brown, Good Wives, Nasty Wenches, and Anxious Patriarchs. And finally, some references to early Eastern Shore records on the subject can be found in my Race and Class in Colonial Virginia. As Brown notes, it was surely being discussed as an issue that needed attention by the 1650s, and most practice in that decade probably conformed to the official resolution of one facet (what to do with the children of slave mothers that were fathered by free men?) in the 1662 statute that declared the status of said children would follow that of the mother. Douglas Deal Professor of History (on leave 2002-2003) State University of New York at Oswego Oswego, NY 13126 [log in to unmask] To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html