What are the origins of N. American slavery? Was race based slavery system a foregone conclusion in colonies?

the History Buff is relatively correct. Indentured Servitude came before the African slave trades. The point missed though is that those "servants" generally came from the ghetto and debtors prisons of London, were male, not allowed to bring their families with them and were required to work a term of three years. Most did not survive that full three year period and the few who did, were generally found to be in default of their contracted agreement and forced to continue working -- usually until death.

As for the introduction of the African slave trades -- brought to these shores by the Dutch, those brought here were the losers of tribal warfare. The victors would take those they wanted and would slaughter the rest. The Europeans saw opportunity and offered to purchase those who were to be killed. The Europeans were NOT the only ones to capitalize on this situation. The Arabs also purchased and pressed into service those losers of tribal warfare.

I REALLY wish those "history teachers" teaching this subject would dig in and teach the facts. Slavery in America, was NOTHING like what most believe. It was far more about economics than it ever was about race.

The Origins Of American Slavery

The origins of North American slavery were different than South American. At first, Africans were in North America and were able to own land. Indentured Servants were basically a form of work-for-land type of system. You agreed to work for a certain amount of time and you can own the land you work on. However, as the agricultural system began to pick up, the labor force was not enough to meet the demands. Therefore, the racism that we know of today came into play. I'm pretty sure its safe to say that there was racism before but the racism used to enslave the Africans was used after the shift in work force was needed. The first "enslaved" person in North America was actually a black indentured servant who was sentenced to life for a crime.

Hope this helped, good luck.