Curated OER
National Park Service: Hampton Historical Site: Lives of Indentured Servants
A comprehensive article from Maryland Historical Magazine written about the indentured servants, particularly those in Hampton, Maryland.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Servitude, American Beginnings: 1492 1690
Two examples of indenture contracts and three accounts of indentured servitude, including positive as well as admonitory views, in the Chesapeake English colonies.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: The Colonial Period
The early settlers to the New World began to map strategy for their own system of government. This site details that strategy and what kinds of events spawned the idea of representative government.
Library of Congress
Loc: American Memory Timeline: Colonial Settlement,1600s 1763
Read about the colonization in the New World by many European countries. Hyperlinks to you to more specific topics.
Library of Congress
Loc: John Bull and Uncle Sam
Part of an exhibit that talks about the British exploration and settlement of America.
Digital History
Digital History: European Colonization North of Mexico
Although settlements by other northern European countries are mentioned, the primary focus of this article is on English settlements and the types of immigrants who came to the New World from England.
Digital History
Digital History: Life in Early Virginia
A good description of the use of indentured servants in early Jamestown as a labor force to cultivate tobacco, the cash crop that saved the colony.
Other
Virtual Jamestown: Laws on Indentured Servants
A list of laws and legal opinions from 17th-century colonial Virginia concerning indentured servants.
Other
Virtual Jamestown: Experiences of an Indentured Servant
This site from the Virtual Jamestown of Crandall Shifflett provides the letter of Richard Frethorne to his parents in 1623 begging for their support in a desperate situation.
Ibis Communications
Eye Witness to History: Passage to America, 1750
This article details the passage to America in 1750 through the eyes of a German immigrant.
Library of Virginia
Virginia Memory: Petition of Phillip Gowen
This lesson explores the practice of indentured servitude in colonial Virginia. Students examine a petition by Phillip Gowen, an African American indentured servant, who asked the governor of Virginia to release him from servitude in 1675.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Southern Colonies: Maryland the Catholic Experiment
What began as a place of refuge for Catholics who were discriminated against in England, the colony of Maryland soon suffered religious strife even after the passage of the Toleration Act of 1649. Find out what caused the strife and why...
University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota: Coolie Trade in the 19th Century
This resource consists of historical documents about Chinese coolies imported to Cuba during the 19th century. Its goal is to highlight the human experience during the coolie trade and to encourage critical thinking about how the coolie...
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Britain in the New World: The Growth of the Tobacco Trade
Many colonists came to Jamestown to find gold. Read about what finally brought money into the colony, and what John Rolfe's role was in that. Read about who the workers were who provided the labor for this new money source.
Open Door Team
Open Door Web Site: First British Colony: Virginia
Here is a brief, to-the-point account of the settlement at Jamestown and its ultimate success.
Ancestry
Immigrants: Indentured Servants
This page gives information about the indentured servants brought from England to Colonial Virginia during the seventeenth century.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Life in the Plantation South
Plantation life was a dichotomy between rich and poor, land owners and laborers. Read about the life of the rich plantation owners and their families. See how the role of women was different on the plantations.
Curated OER
Indenture Contract, 1684
Two examples of indenture contracts and three accounts of indentured servitude, including positive as well as admonitory views, in the Chesapeake English colonies.