Featuring: Larry Kenneth Alexander
Transcript:
Today, I invite you to step back into the shadows of history to confront a grievous chapter of injustice that laid the foundation for a system of racial tyranny in colonial America. This is the story of how slavery at birth became an institution, exploiting colonial-born Black individuals who, under English law and colonial charters, were British subjects entitled to liberty at birth. Under the legal traditions of England, enslaving a British subject was a crime. This principle was a cornerstone of English governance, enshrined in the rights afforded to all under the rule of law.
Yet, in the colony of Virginia in 1662, this cornerstone was deliberately shattered. The Virginia Assembly enacted partus sequitur ventrem, a hereditary slave law decreeing that children born to enslaved mothers would themselves be born into slavery, regardless of their father’s race or status. This law was more than a legislative act—it was an audacious defiance of English legal tradition. At the time, English common law adhered to partus sequitur patrem, a principle declaring that a child’s legal status was determined by the father. Virginia’s assembly had no authority to override this principle, let alone replace it with a system that violated the rights of those it subjected to bondage. Yet, with the stroke of a pen, they enacted a grotesque reimagining of human status that redefined personhood itself.
Consider the profound implications of this decree. Before 1662, the concept of being born into slavery was legally unrecognized in English jurisprudence. This colonial law, crafted in violation of England’s own legal framework, claimed to create such a condition out of thin air. It was not just a perversion of law; it was a weaponization of law aimed at ensuring the perpetual subjugation of Black people in the colony of Virginia.
The consequences of this betrayal extend far beyond legal principles. The enactment of partus sequitur ventrem was transformative—not only for those directly enslaved but for generations yet to be born. By 1670, Virginia’s enslaved population had swelled to more than 2,000, a seven-fold increase from 1650. These were men, women, and children born into chains, robbed of their liberty at birth, and condemned to a life of servitude.
This system was particularly insidious due to its deliberate generational design. By ensuring that the children of enslaved women would also be enslaved, Virginia’s lawmakers created a self-replenishing labor force. These children were assimilated into a system that used their native English language as a tool of control and alienation. They were raised not just to serve but to accept the dehumanizing lie that their bondage was a natural and inevitable condition.
The enactment of partus sequitur ventrem stands as one of history’s starkest examples of how power can corrupt the law to serve oppression. It was a betrayal—not just of English legal principles, but of humanity itself. This betrayal embedded the concept of hereditary slavery into the cultural and economic DNA of the colonies.
Let this history compel us to action. We must remember it, not as a distant and disconnected past, but as a sobering reminder of the cost of injustice. Let it strengthen our resolve to challenge systems of oppression, dismantle inequities, and ensure that the laws we create reflect not just power, but principle. The legacy of those who suffered under this system demands that we remain vigilant, speak truth to power, and stand unwavering in our commitment to justice and equality for all.
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