USA Africa Dialogue Series - 1619 project

could one of you historians explain to me why the 1619 project wants to make the claim that the first slaves brought to the u.s. was in 1619 when the spanish had done so earlier?

here's a piece of the wiki reference on this:

In Spanish Florida and farther north, the first African slaves arrived in 1526 with Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón's establishment of San Miguel de Gualdape on the current Georgia coast.^[38][39] They rebelled and lived with indigenous people, destroying the colony in less than 2 months.^[40] More slaves arrived in Florida in 1539 with Hernando de Soto, and in the 1565 founding of St. Augustine, Florida.^[39][40] Native Americans were also enslaved in Florida by the encomienda system.^[41][42] slaves escaping to Florida from the colony of Georgia were freed by Carlos II's proclamation November 7, 1693 if the slaves were willing to convert to Catholicism,^[43][44] and it became a place of refuge for slaves fleeing the Thirteen Colonies.^[44][45]

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

harrow@msu.edu