Maryland's African-American Heritage
The Seventeenth Century
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1603
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Maryland is colonized.
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1618
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By granting monopolies to English trading companies, the British government
sanctions the slave trade.
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1634
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St. Mary's City is founded by 200 settlers, half of them Protestant. Granted
to Cecil Calvert. Lord of Baltimore, it allows the tolerance of Puritans.
Started as a Catholic colony, it was supposedly named for Charles I's wife,
Queen Henrietta Maria but realy it ws named for the Virgin Mary. From the
beginning, it had a Protestant majority.
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1634
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Matthias De Sousa (Matt Das Sousa) arrives to
Maryland aboard a ship named the Ark as an indentured servant. As an indentured
servant, De Sousa must face seven years of servitude to pay off his debts,
then he will be granted his freedom.
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1634
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Slavery is introduced to Maryland.
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1640
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To discourage slaves and indentured servants from running away as well as
to discourage sympathizers from sheltering them, the English colonies begin
to pass punitive laws.
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1642
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Matthias De Sousa (Matt Das Sousa) is the first African-American to sit in
a legislative assembly. In 1642 he votes in the Maryland Colonial General
Assembly.
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1663
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African-Americans beware! A law is passed in Maryland, enslaving all
African-Americans brought into the colony.
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1664
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The lower House of Maryland asks the upper House to draft an act declaring
that the baptism of slaves did not lead to their freedom.
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1664
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Maryland passes a law that a white woman who marries an African slave should
serve the master of such a slave for life.
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1667
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Severe restrictions are placed upon African-Americans after ther passing
of the British "Act to Regulate the Negroes on the British Plantation." The
restrictons include but are not limited to not leaving the plantaton on Sundays,
the requirement of a pass to leave the plantation Monday- Saturday, the
condemment of possesion or use of a weapon, as well as the possession or
use of horns, drums or any other signaling device. The act also states that
if a slave strikes a Christian, the punishment is a whipping. The second
offense results in a brand upon the face of the aggresor.
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1681
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Under Maryland state law, children born to white mothers and African-American
fathers as well as children born to free African-American women are considered
free.
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1692
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A law is passed in Maryland that forces white men to serve seven years of
servitude if they marry or have children by African-American women.
African-American men who have sexual relations with white women are also
penalized.
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