Skip to main content

The timeline can be navigated with the “Scroll Left” and “Scroll Right” buttons or by dragging the pointer to a date on the timeline waveform (located at the bottom of the screen on the desktop version and on the left of the screen on mobile). To filter by a particular topic and see a smaller section of the data, make a selection on the dropdown “Filters” menu or click “Search” to do a keyword search. Hover over the abbreviated filter tags in the blue boxes to see the complete name of the filter, or click a filter to display all the data with this tag. If you want to take a deeper dive into a specific topic by viewing a narrative essay page and a curated timeline, click on “Stories.”

Read More
Scan of a book print dated October 1705 outlining provisions of the act "concerning servants and slaves."
"An act concerning indentured servants and slaves" passed by the Virginia General Assembly (1705).

Virginia Slave Codes passed: the origin of the "one-drop" rule.

1705

LLP
IS
SLA
RAC
"An act concerning indentured servants and slaves" passed by the Virginia General Assembly (1705).

These laws make slavery permanent for "Negroes," "mulattoes," and "Indians" by defining these people as "real estate." The slave codes define anyone who has 1/8 African parentage as "Black," and anyone who has 1/2 Native parentage as "Native." This is the origin of the "one-drop" rule for African ancestry, and the "1/2 or more" rule for Natives, which later becomes the basis for "blood quantum." "White" continues to be defined as a synonym for "Christian" and "English," but also as "not-Black" and "not-Indian." The laws contain many other rulings, including prohibiting anyone from transporting an enslaved person or servant out of the colony.