America was built on Black labor. A project born from bondage 406 years ago. On August 25, 1619, a ship carrying enslaved Africans arrived at Old Point Comfort, Virginia. They were stolen from their homes in the kingdom of Ndongo, in present-day Angola. Captured by Spanish slavers, then seized again by an English privateer, they were sold to colonists in exchange for food. 15 women. 17 men. The first of millions. They arrived with skills in farming, blacksmithing, and trade that helped a struggling colony survive. They carried languages, music, and traditions that shaped the culture of a nation built on their backs. What followed was 246 years of chattel slavery, and 160 more years of violence, exclusion, and fights for basic dignity that continue today. Yet Black people survived. We resisted. We created. We organized. We built. Enslaved Black people’s labor helped build the foundations of this country, and generations of Black Americans continued shaping America long after emancip...