Virginia SOL VS.4.d
The Standard
describing the laws that established race-based enslavement
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 Virginia laws changed the status of Africans and their children over time. They explain how inheritance, baptism, and legal definitions made enslavement permanent and tied to ancestry.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can explain the effects of the 1662, 1667, and 1705 laws using specific examples. They can distinguish permanent, inherited enslavement from time-limited indentured servitude.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think every African who arrived in 1619 had the same legal status. They may think the rules appeared all at once instead of developing over decades. They may confuse inherited enslavement with indentured servitude.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: In two sentences, explain how the 1662 rule about children and the 1705 code made enslavement inherited and tied to ancestry.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Have pairs place simplified 1662, 1667, and 1705 law cards on a timeline, then attach an effect card beneath each.
Ask students to write: How did each new law narrow freedom for Africans and their children in colonial Virginia?
Play a matching game where students pair each colonial law with its date, meaning, and effect on enslaved families.
Compare a short colonial law excerpt with Virginia's current equality protections, then list two clear differences.
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