JANUARY 3, 2016
LOOKING BLACK
ON TODAY IN 1624,
THE FIRST RECORDED
“AFRICAN AMERICAN”
WAS BORN
William Tucker was the first person of African ancestry
born in the 13 British Colonies. His birth symbolized the
beginnings of a distinct African American identity along
the eastern coast of what would eventually become the
United States.
born in the 13 British Colonies. His birth symbolized the
beginnings of a distinct African American identity along
the eastern coast of what would eventually become the
United States.
William Tucker was born in 1624 near Jamestown, Virginia,
the son of “Antoney and Isabell,” two African indentured
servants. Historians do not know much of William Tucker’s
life due to the fragmented pieces of primary source material
available for contemporary study.
the son of “Antoney and Isabell,” two African indentured
servants. Historians do not know much of William Tucker’s
life due to the fragmented pieces of primary source material
available for contemporary study.
According to the 1624-1625 Virginia Census, 22 Africans
lived in Virginia at the time of Tucker’s birth. The first 20
of these Africans arrived in 1619 and all of them worked
under indentured servitude contracts. These men and
women were not slaves because Virginia’s General Assembly
had not yet worked out the terms for enslavement in the
colony. Consequently these first Africans in Virginia received
the same rights, duties, privileges, responsibilities, and
punishments as their white indentured counterparts from
Great Britain. They also worked under the same terms and
many but not all were given land at the end of their period
of indenture. In fact they and their descendants became the
nucleus of the free black population which existed in
Virginia prior to the Civil War.
William Tucker’s parents were among this group of 22 first
Africans. They worked for a Captain William Tucker, the
Virginia envoy to the Pamunkey Indians, and his wife, Mrs.
Mary Tucker. Anthony and Isabella participated in the
establishment of Elizabeth City County, Virginia which is
now the city of Hampton, in 1634. In the early 1620s
Captain Tucker allowed the couple to wed though the
practice violated English custom for indentured servants.
Anthony and Isabella married at least a year before giving
birth to their son William Tucker in 1624.
William Tucker seems to have had a childhood similar to that of other children born to indentured servants in the colony. According to the 1624-1625 census, there were two other servant children, both white, born around the time of William Tucker.Many facts regarding Tucker’s life remain a mystery. The historical record did not reveal his personal experiences in Virginia, whether he was married or had children, or the date of his death. What was known was Tucker’s baptism in the Anglican Church and that he was named after his family’s master, Captain William Tucker. Young William Tucker was counted as one of Captain Tucker’s 17 servants.
Sources: Irene Hecht, “The Virginia Muster of 1624/5 As a
Source for Demographic History,” The William and Mary
Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 30, No. 1 (1973), 65-92; “Muster
of the Inhabitants of Virginia 1624” in John Hotten, ed., The
Original Lists of Persons of Quality, Emigrants, Religious
Exiles, Political Rebels, Serving Men Sold for a Term of
Years, Apprentices, Children Stolen, Maidens Pressed, and
Others who Went from Great Britain to the American
Plantations, 1600-1700?: With Their Ages, the Localities
where They Formerly Lived in the Mother Country, the
Names of the Ships in which They Embarked, and Other
Interesting Particulars, from Mss. Preserved in the State
Paper Department of Her Majesty’s Public Record Office,
England (New York: Empire State Book Company, 1874);
John Russell, The Free Negro in Virginia 1619-1865
(Baltimore: John Hopkins Press, 1913).
Source for Demographic History,” The William and Mary
Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 30, No. 1 (1973), 65-92; “Muster
of the Inhabitants of Virginia 1624” in John Hotten, ed., The
Original Lists of Persons of Quality, Emigrants, Religious
Exiles, Political Rebels, Serving Men Sold for a Term of
Years, Apprentices, Children Stolen, Maidens Pressed, and
Others who Went from Great Britain to the American
Plantations, 1600-1700?: With Their Ages, the Localities
where They Formerly Lived in the Mother Country, the
Names of the Ships in which They Embarked, and Other
Interesting Particulars, from Mss. Preserved in the State
Paper Department of Her Majesty’s Public Record Office,
England (New York: Empire State Book Company, 1874);
John Russell, The Free Negro in Virginia 1619-1865
(Baltimore: John Hopkins Press, 1913).
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Wade, Evan San Joaquin Delta College