Philadelphia gathering remembers 1619 arrival of slaves in America

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In remembrance of the first documented enslaved Africans arriving in America, dozens gathered at the President’s House Site at Independence Mall in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

The first ship carrying enslaved Africans arrived in Virginia on Aug. 25, 1619. An English privateer had captured the Africans from a Spanish slave ship and later traded them to English colonists in exchange for food.

The Avenging the Ancestors Coalition organized the gathering as a “solemn remembrance of those whose forced labor helped build the United States.”

From a podium set up at 6th and Market streets, attorney Michael Coard spoke to those in attendance about the impact of slavery in America.

“Imagine you had a company,” Coard said. “And for 246 years from 1619 until 1865, you didn’t have to pay your employees a dime. Well, at the end of the day, you’d have a prosperous company too. America is that company.”