Past Events › 400 Year Commemoration

In August 1619, 20 enslaved Africans were brought to Point Comfort in the English colony of Virginia—this site is now part of Fort Monroe National Monument. As recorded by English colonist John Rolfe, the arrival of "20 and odd" African men and women at Point Comfort in late August 1619, was a pivotal moment in the nation's history. Stolen by English privateers from a Spanish slave ship and brought to Point Comfort on a ship called the White Lion, these natives of west central Africa are…