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Painting of Black folks of all ages sitting on benches. Behind them, several white people gather closely. On stage, a white man in a hat.
Painting of an auction of enslaved Black people by Eyre Crowe (1861). (Photo: Heinz Collection)

Colonies make lifelong servitude for enslaved Africans mandatory.

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Painting of an auction of enslaved Black people by Eyre Crowe (1861). (Photo: Heinz Collection)

A Maryland law passed in 1664 prevents enslaved people from obtaining their freedom via English legal precedents that allow it under particular circumstances. Similar laws are passed in the colonies of New York, New Jersey, the Carolinas, and Virginia, where a statute is passed declaring that enslaved African people who are baptized into Christianity are not exempt from bondage.