Watch Slavery and the Making of America Season 1 Episode 1 Online

The 1620s. Eleven men of African descent and mixed ethnicity enter into slavery in New Amsterdam. Working side by side with white indentured servants, these men labored to lay the foundations of the Dutch colony that would later become New York. No law then defined the limitations imposed on slaves. Anthony d'Angola, Emmanuel Driggus, and Frances Driggus could bring suits to court, earn wages, and marry. After the 1731 Stono Rebellion, many colonies adopted strict "black codes" transforming the social system into one of legal racial oppression.