White Cargo: The Forgotten History of Britain's White Slaves in America

The forgotten story of the thousands of white Britons who lived and died in bondage in Britain’s American colonies

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, more than 300,000 white people were shipped to America as slaves. Urchins were swept up from London’s streets to labor in the tobacco fields, where life expectancy was no more than two years. Brothels were raided to provide “breeders” for Virginia. Hopeful migrants were duped into signing as indentured servants, unaware they would bec...