Virginia SOL USI.4.b
The Standard
examining the arrival of the first Africans to colonial America at Old Point Comfort (Fort Monroe)
Virginia Standards of Learning for History and Social Science
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students trace how captive Africans were taken from Angola, carried across the Atlantic, seized from a Portuguese ship, and brought to Point Comfort in 1619. They explain why the event matters in the history of English Virginia and the growth of race-based slavery.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can identify Angola, the White Lion, Point Comfort, and 1619 in a clear sequence. The student describes the Africans as captives, not willing immigrants, and connects their forced labor to slavery’s later expansion in Virginia.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may say the Africans came voluntarily or sailed directly from Africa on the White Lion. They may treat 1619 as the first arrival of Africans anywhere in the Americas or assume Virginia’s slave laws were already fully established.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: In three sentences, explain how about 20 captive Africans reached Point Comfort in 1619 and why the event matters to Virginia history.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups a map and event cards showing Angola, the San Juan Bautista, the White Lion, and Point Comfort to sequence the forced voyage.
Write three sentences: Why is “arrival” incomplete unless an account explains capture, forced transport, and exchange for food?
Play a source match game: Pair four images or captions with Angola, forced voyage, Point Comfort, or labor in Virginia.
Study Fort Monroe’s 1619 historical marker online, then draft one added sentence explaining a fact the marker’s visitors should understand.
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Related Standards
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- USI.4.d
identifying the cultural connections, conflicts, and common values of enslaved people in the Western Hemisphere, as well as challenges and hardships endured by ...
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