Slavery in Virginia

Our history books neglect to fully educate on the issue of slavery. All non-white individuals, including our Native American ancestors, were subjected to the slave block. One only has to take a cursory look over the slave lists at New Orleans to see the descriptions and origins of the slaves up for sale as evidence.

"Soon after, [Jamestown], in 1676, Virginia colonists legalized the enslavement of Native people by enacting that 'soldiers who had captured Indians should 'reteyne and keepe all such Indian slaves or other Indian good as they either have taken or hereafter shall take.'" . . ."From this point on, Virginians did not take care to distinguish between Africans and Indians. Indeed, as historian Edmund Morgan notes. . . 'Indians and Negroes were henceforth lumped together in Virginia legislation, and White Virginians treated black, red and intermediate shades of brown as interchangeable . . . Non-white people of any variety were seen as suitable for enslavement because their color was the mark of their difference and, in the view of Whites, their inferiority.'" (page 141, Confounding the Color Line : The Indian Black Experience in North America. ed. James F. Brooks. U of Nebraska Press, Lincoln:2002)

The fact that Virginia refused to distinguish between people of color makes the search for John Harmon more difficult. The affidavit clearly states that John Harmon was a 'native of Portugal' and that he and his sons and grandsons were free men. But in 1750, there wouldn't be an ethnic checkbox for Portuguese. There was only White or Black. It makes the search for this elusive Goings/Goyens/Goins ancestor very difficult.

His grandson, William Goyens, Jr. did know the dangers of being a Free Person of Color as there were two attempts to enslave him. Although he was born free of free parents and free grandparents, there was always the danger from greedy White bondsmen to capture a person of color and send them to auction.