Enslaved (1999)

"Enslaved" traces the origins of the institution of slavery. In the earliest days of colonial America there were no slaves, but the need for labor led the colonists to seek workers anywhere they could be found. At first they used European systems of servitude-apprentices and indentured servants- but those contractual arrangements eventually gave way to a legalized system of slavery. "Enslaved" features a segment on indentured servants and a segment of the Punch case of 1640, in which a black indentured servant ran away with two white indentured servants. The white men were whipped for their crime, but the black man was sentenced to servitude for life. This was the first documented instance of lifetime servitude on the American colonies. The program also traced the legal progression of slavery in colonial America.