Indentured Servants and Enslaved People

Mission Brief #17

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Connect the dots between past and present.

⚡ The twist

There's always more than one side to the story.

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Indentured servants and enslaved people played significant roles in the colonial workforce. Indentured servitude was a system where individuals agreed to work for a set number of years in exchange for passage to America and the promise of land or money after their service.

Read · 2 of 2

In contrast, enslaved people were forced to work without pay and had no rights. This marked a stark difference in the treatment and lives of these two groups, which led to complex social dynamics in the colonies.

Key facts

Remember these

1Indentured servants worked for a set number of years in exchange for passage to America.
2Enslaved people were forced to work without pay and had no rights.
3The differences between these groups created complex social dynamics in colonial society.

Timeline

When it happened

1619
The first recorded enslaved Africans arrive in Virginia
1640
A Virginia court sentences John Punch to servitude for life
1676
Bacon's Rebellion unites servants and freedmen against the governor
1705
Virginia's slave codes harden slavery into law

Then & Now

History isn't really 'history' — it shapes today, every day.

Mind = blown

Horses had died out in the Americas thousands of years earlier — the Spanish brought them back.

Question 1 of 2

What did indentured servants receive in exchange for their labor?

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Question 2 of 2

What is a key difference between indentured servants and enslaved people?

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