Analyzing the Shift from Indentured Servitude to Race-Based Slavery
Grade 7
From Indentured Servitude to Race-Based Slavery
For much of the 1600s, labor in the Maryland colony was largely supplied by indentured servants from Europe. Indentured servants were people who entered into contracts to work for a set number of years in exchange for passage, land, or opportunity. As conditions in Europe improved and colonial opportunities expanded, landowners in Maryland sought alternative labor sources, including chattel slavery, the enslavement of Africans. Over time, colonial leaders created laws that transformed this economic labor demand into a racial system, defining African people and their descendants as enslavable for life.
In this lesson, students will understand how Maryland’s labor system shifted from indentured servitude to race‑based slavery, and how lawmakers used race to justify and enforce this change.
Teacher's Guide and Related Standards
Students will examine why Maryland transitioned from indentured servitude to chattel slavery and explain how this shift contributed to the development of race as a legal and social category.
- Why did Maryland’s colonial leaders transition from indentured servitude to a system of chattel slavery based on race?
Film Clip
- What cash crop did colonial Maryland grow in the 17th century?
- Why did landowners in colonial Maryland initially rely upon indentured servants instead of enslaved labor?
- What did the 1663 statute mentioned in the clip do to the institution of slavery in colonial Maryland?
Vocabulary
Supplemental Enrichment Activities
Thinkport, MPT in the Classroom | Slavery in Maryland
Life in colonial Maryland was different for indentured servants and enslaved people. Watch the video to identify the difference between an indentured servant and an enslaved person.
Make two columns on a piece of paper: indentured servant and enslaved person. As you watch the video clip, make note of the conditions of each that the speakers mention.
An Act Concerning Negroes and Other Slaves
The “Act Concerning Negroes and Other Slaves” recorded in 1663 was the first law in Maryland that made slavery officially legal.
Read the original law to see the type of language they used, then read the brief summaries of each section. Identify and describe in your own words the main components of this law. Explain how these rules helped create the idea that race could determine a person’s rights and freedom in colonial Maryland.
Ask an Expert: Were the children of Africans and whites made slaves?
Maryland’s 1663 act said that a child’s status (free or enslaved) was based on the race of the mother. Using the story of Eleanor, an Irish indentured servant who married an enslaved African man, answer the following questions:
- What happened to Eleanor and her children under the laws at the time?
- How did lawmakers change the rules after her case?
- How does this case show the colony moving toward a system where slavery was only for people of African descent?