The White Lion
The White Lion was an English privateer operating under a Dutch letter of marque which brought the first Africans to the English colony of Virginia in 1619, a year before the arrival of the "Mayflower" in New England. Though the African captives were sold as indentured servants, the event is regarded as the start of slavery of Africans in colonial North America.

Slavery had been practiced among Native Americans before the European colonization of the Americas. They took captives in warfare and raids, sometimes adopting young women and children as members of their tribes, or keeping them as slaves to serve as workers. 

The first enslaved African in North America was Estevanico, a Moor who participated in the Spanish Narváez expedition in 1527. In 1526 personnel in the expedition of Spanish explorer Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón that landed on the Georgia coast included enslaved Africans. They escaped and are thought to have joined Native Americans, if they survived. Enslaved Africans were also part of the Spanish expedition to Florida in 1539 with Hernando de Soto, and in the 1565 founding of St. Augustine, Florida.

The Africans on the "White Lion" were probably among the thousands who had been captured in 1618-1619 by a slave raiding force primarily consisting of African raiders, under nominal Portuguese leadership, who were at war with the Kingdom of Ndongo. These particular enslaved Africans were taken on the Portuguese slave ship "São João Bautista" from Luanda, Angola, capital of the Portuguese settlements in Angola. The "White Lion", along with another privateer, the "Treasurer", commanded by Daniel Elfrith, intercepted the "São João Bautista" on its way to modern-day Veracruz on the Gulf coast of New Spain (present-day Mexico). The two ships captured and divided part of the Portuguese ship's African captives, under the aegis of Dutch letters of marque from Maurice, Prince of Orange. "White Lion" captain John Colyn Jope sailed for the Virginia colony to sell the African captives, first landing in Point Comfort, in modern-day Hampton Roads.

As John Rolfe, secretary of the colony of Virginia, wrote to Virginia Company of London treasurer Edwin Sandys:

After being sold off the "White Lion", two of the slaves, Isabella and Anthony, married and had a child in 1624. William Tucker, as they named him after a Virginian planter, was the first recorded Black child born in English America.
Q201559
privateer
Concept
Q170072
Dutch
ORG
Q1414906
letter of marque
Concept
Q69525019
first Africans
MEDIA
Q1070529
colony of Virginia
LOC
Q187093
Mayflower
MISC
Q1122364
indentured servants
Concept
Q7539285
slavery of Africans in colonial North America
Concept
Q7539244
among Native Americans
MEDIA
Q184716
European colonization of the Americas
Concept
Q1370004
Estevanico
PER
Q1277677
Narváez expedition
Concept
Q1028779
Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón
PER
Q60040
Hernando de Soto
PER
Q487988
St. Augustine, Florida
LOC
None
São João Bautista
UNK
Q3897
Luanda, Angola
LOC
Q3014000
Daniel Elfrith
PER
Q60130
Veracruz
LOC
Q1414906
letters of marque
Concept
Q164062
Maurice, Prince of Orange
PER
Q3881525
Point Comfort
LOC
Q433948
John Rolfe
PER
Q1061207
Virginia Company of London
ORG
Q5346806
Edwin Sandys
PER
Q86753505
The White Lion
MISC
1619-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1619
DATE
1527-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1527
DATE
1526-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1526
DATE
1539-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1539
DATE
1565-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1565
DATE
1618-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1618
DATE
1624-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1624
DATE
-1619^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
-1619
NUMBER
participant
start time
inception