1670s: Large-scale enslavers in Virginia began to turn significantly toward enslaved African labor as the supply of white British indentured servants started …

1670s: Large-scale enslavers in Virginia began to turn significantly toward enslaved African labor as the supply of white British indentured servants started to decline. In the late 1670s, white servants still outnumbered enslaved black people in the colony by a ratio of four to one. However, by the early 1690s, this demographic ratio had completely reversed, with enslaved black people outnumbering servants four to one. This transition reflected a broader shift across the North American mainland toward a labor system defined by racialized chattel slavery.