African slaves in America

One thing about being born part African American is that you pretty much know for certain that some of your ancestors were slaves - people kidnapped from their homes in Africa and forced to work in America. There are plenty of sites on the web that give all too graphic accounts of the slave trade and the horrors of life as a slave. When my ancestors first arrived in the US they would have looked very obviously black, but after a few generations of enforced interbreeding people looking like me would have been produced - these people would have still been slaves and could be bought and sold the same as any other slave - the system was governed by economics as much as color....

Just to confirm how white looking some 19th century black slaves had become look at these two adverts posted by slave owners trying to recapture runaway slaves...

Runaway, a bright woman, named Julia, about twenty-five years old. She is white and very likely may attempt to pass for white. She is a good seamstress, dresses fine, and can read a little. $200 reward, if caught in any Free State and put into any good jail in Kentucky or Tennessee. — A.W. Johnson. The Republican Banner and The Nashville Whig, Tenn. July 14, 1840.

Runaway from me, a woman named Fanny. She is as white as most white women; with straight light hair and blue eyes, and can pass herself for a white woman. She is very intelligent; can read and write, and so forge passes for herself. She is very pious, prays a good deal, and was, as supposed, contented and happy. I will give $500 for her delivery to me. — John Balch, Tuscaloosa Alabama, May 20, 1845.