en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirituals
3 corrections found
The Portuguese Empire transported the first African enslaved peoples to the New World in the 1560s
This date is too late. Credible references place Africans in the Americas decades earlier, with New World Black slavery beginning in 1502 and Africans present in Spanish America in the early 1500s.
Full reasoning
The statement is incorrect on chronology. The Library of Congress says "Africans came to the New World in the earliest days of the Age of Exploration" and that "In the early 1500s, Africans trekked across the many lands in North, Central, and South America" claimed by Spain, some free and some enslaved. Britannica is even more specific, stating that New World Black slavery began in 1502. That means the article's claim that the first enslaved Africans were transported to the New World only in the 1560s is off by roughly half a century.
So the correction here is not about whether the Portuguese were major participants in the slave trade—they were—but about the date given for the first transport of enslaved Africans to the New World.
2 sources
- Beginnings | African | Immigration and Relocation in U.S. History | Library of Congress
"Africans came to the New World in the earliest days of the Age of Exploration. In the early 1500s, Africans trekked across the many lands in North, Central, and South America... some coming in freedom and some in slavery."
- Western colonialism - Slave Trade, Imperialism, Abolition | Britannica
Search snippet: "New World Black slavery began in 1502..."
In 1619, the first slave ship had carried twenty people from the west central African kingdom of Kongo—to a life of enslavement in what is now Mexico.
This sentence mixes up the ships’ intended destination with where the captives actually arrived. The well-documented 1619 group was taken to Point Comfort in Virginia, not to Mexico.
Full reasoning
National Park Service sources on the 1619 landing say the "20 and odd" Africans were brought to Point Comfort, Virginia in August 1619. One NPS page explains that they had been removed from the Portuguese slave ship San Juan Bautista while that vessel was attempting to deliver its African prisoners to Mexico. In other words:
- Mexico was the intended destination of the Portuguese ship before interception.
- Virginia was where the 1619 captives actually arrived and were sold.
So the article's sentence is incorrect because it says the 1619 ship carried those twenty people "to ... what is now Mexico," when the documented 1619 arrival was in Virginia.
2 sources
- Arrival of the First Africans in 1619 | U.S. National Park Service
"The first ship carrying enslaved Africans arrived at Old Point Comfort on August 25, 1619... One of the privateer ships, the White Lion, brought the enslaved Africans to Old Point Comfort."
- African Americans at Jamestown | U.S. National Park Service
"The 20 and odd Africans were captives removed from the Portuguese slave ship, San Juan Bautista... while attempting to deliver its African prisoners to Mexico."
Arthur Jones founded "The Spirituals Project" at the University of Denver in 1999
The date is off by a year. The University of Denver says The Spirituals Project was formally incorporated in December 1998.
Full reasoning
The University of Denver's own history page for the organization says "The Spirituals Project was formally incorporated in December 1998" and describes it as founded by Arthur C. Jones. That directly contradicts the article's claim that Jones founded it in 1999.
This is a straightforward date error, especially notable because the same article elsewhere also refers to the project as established in 1998.
1 source
- The Spirituals Project | University of Denver
"The Spirituals Project was formally incorporated in December 1998... founded by Dr. Arthur C. Jones."