The 1619 project is based on lies. The evidence is that the first Africans were not chattel slaves, but bondsmen under a contract of indenture which would eventually after a period of 7 years. An indentured servant was legally considered free, with the rights and protections of a freeman, but bound by contract. https://infogalactic.com/info/John_Punch_(slave) >John Punch (fl. 1630s, living 1640) was an enslaved African who lived in the Colony of Virginia during the seventeenth century.[2][3] In July 1640, the Virginia Governor's Council sentenced him to serve for the remainder of his life as punishment for running away to Maryland. In contrast, two European men who ran away with him were sentenced to longer indentures but not the permanent loss of their freedom. For this reason, historians consider John Punch the "first official slave in the English colonies, John Casor, was an indentured servant who believed his period of indenture had ended. His master, Anthony Johnson disagreed and sued him and won. The court case was in 1655, which gives the lie to the claim that chattel slavery began with the colonies in 1619. https://infogalactic.com/info/John_Casor >At this time, there were only about 300 persons of African origin living in the Virginia Colony, about 1% of an estimated population of 30,000. The first group of 20 or so Africans were brought to Jamestown in 1619 as indentured servants. **After working out their contracts for passage money to Virginia and completing their indenture, each was granted 50 acres (20 ha) of land (headrights).** This enabled them to raise their own tobacco or other crops. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/horrible-fate-john-casor-180962352/ >Casor was originally an indentured servant, which meant he was practically a slave in some senses. But what was bought or sold wasn’t him, it was his contract of indenture, which obligated him to work for its holder for the period it set. At the end of that time, indentured servants—who could be of any race—were considered legally free and sent out into the world. Anthony Johnson, Casor's bondholder, was born in Portoguese Angola, captured there by slave traders, and his indenture sold to a Virginian tobacco planter. https://infogalactic.com/info/Anthony_Johnson_(colonist) > Held as an indentured servant in 1621, he earned his freedom after several years, and was granted land by the colony.[1] >He later became a successful tobacco farmer in Maryland. He attained great wealth after completing his term as an indentured servant, and has been referred to as "'the black patriarch' of the first community of Negro property owners in America".[1]