Indentured servants first arrived in America in the decade following the settlement of Jamestown by the Virginia Company in 1607. The idea of indentured servitude was born of a need for cheap labor.

We sometimes imagine that such oppressive laws were put quickly into full force by greedy landowners. But that's not the way slavery was established in colonial America. It happened gradually -- one ...

"TO BE SOLD: The indentures of a few Servants and Redemptioners from Londonderry. For terms apply To Captain John Willing in sail ship Philadelphia at William Allen Esquire Wharf." - From the ...