August ndash Captain 
Jope's ship brings the first 
Africans to what will later be called 
America. 
Jope trades these 
Africans for food and supplies. This trade of 
Africans is as temporary 
indentured servants in the same way that English whites are owned as laborers in the New World. Because the 
Spanish had Christianized these 
Africans, this labor arrangement is for a specified time and then they are free to live their lives, just as the English laborers are. These 
Africans had been stolen from the cargo of a 
Spanish vessel on the high seas. The enslavement of 
Africans in 
America is progressively and intentionally implemented later, beginning with the sentencing of 
John Punch in 1640.