They were kidnapped from towns in Ndongo, given Christian names such as Isabella and Anthony, chained onto cramped bunks aboard a Portuguese slave ship for an 8,000-mile trip to Mexico. The ship didn't make it.

It was plundered at sea by English pirates sailing under a Dutch flag. The pirates brought "20 and odd" of the African captives to the Jamestowne colony, where they were sold as "victualls," or supplies.

The date was August 1619, and the sale is considered the beginning of slavery as an institution in what would become the United States.