The answers to these questions come from primary sources—original documents like plantation ledgers, personal diaries, county tax accounts, and government records. These documents are not always the easiest to find, or to interpret, but they hold the keys to understanding.

Using primary sources, can you trace the slave trade backwards—from a typical plantation in colonial Virginia back to Africa? Each of these documents tells part of the story.

As you piece the story together, takes notes in your journal to trace the journey.