Day 14 | Angela X

Why hasn’t someone made this into a movie!? Angola is the huge country below the equator on the west coast of Africa. That’s where it all started. ...ground zero for the transatlantic slave trade.  White missionaries, greed, exploitative trade, tech advances that made exploration by sea possible, a massive need for labor and yes, tribal wars.  It was the perfect storm for the greatest crime in human history, the capture, sale, and violent exportation of our ancestors. Yes, and we know that the first enslaved Africans arrived in America 400 years ago, in 1619. The next part is not as well known.  20 or so Africans were the first to walk on American soil.  They were survivors.  They survived wars on the continent. They survived a 70-mile walk down the Kwanza River.  They survived the humiliation of baptism and branding by Catholic traders of enslaved people.  They survived the dungeons, the canoe ride to the ships, the months at sea, the sickness, filth, violence, and murder.  They survived the day that their Portuguese ship was jacked by British pirates in little-ass boats.  They sailed to America and were sold on the shores of Hampton, Virginia.   They survived. And one of those survivors was a woman named Angela.  ...In Virginia, Angela X lived with Captain Whoever and his wife and two other indentured servants from England. Slavery wasn’t legally codified yet. We know this because, in 2017, something amazing happened.  Buried beneath her home in Jamestown, archeologists found four cowrie shells.  Evidence of her journey  -  the most exciting archeological find in decades – or ever – if you ask us. Today, we honor Angela and every African woman whose names we will never know.Join us in a conversation about survival and the systematic destruction of Black women that began on the coast of Africa and was fortified through The Virginia Code just 50 years after Angela arrived.Join the 21 Day Black History Bootcamp at https://bit.ly/blackhistorybootcamp to receive specially curated emails with inspiring words, survival tips, speeches + dedicated songs to listen to for each featured legendary Black woman.Disclaimer: We do not own the rights to the music played during this broadcast. Original content can be found here:Celie Shaves Mr./Scarification Ceremony (From "The Color Purple" Soundtrack): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFTvbp-FjkkStill I Rise by Maya Angelou: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qviM_GnJbOM&feature=youtu.be