When they First Arrived in America as Slaves in the 1600s, Africans Joined a Society

Reading Passage Question

When they first arrived in America as slaves in the 1600s, Africans joined a society that was divided between master and white servants brought from Europe. In most parts of the South, some of these first African slaves became free either through escape or through emancipation by their owners. It is therefore a misconception that all African Americans in the pre-Civil War South were slaves. Many researchers have also assumed that these free African Americans were the offspring of white slave owners who took advantage of their female slaves. However, these cases represent only a small minority of free African Americans in the South. Most free African Americans were actually the descendants of African American men and white servant women.

In fact, despite the efforts of the various colonial legislatures, white servant women continued to bear children by African American fathers through the late seventeenth century and well into the eighteenth century. It appears that such births were the primary source of the increase in the free African American population for this period. Over two hundred African American families in Virginia descended from white women. Forty-six families descended from freed slaves, twenty-nine from Indians, and sixteen from white men who married or had children by free African American women. It is likely that the majority of the remaining families descended from white women since they first appear in court records in the mid-eighteenth century, when slaves could not be freed without legislative approval, and there is no record of legislative approval for their emancipations.

The history of free African Americans families in colonial New York and New Jersey, by contrast, is quite different from that of free African Americans in the South. Most were descended from slaves freed by the Dutch West India Company between 1644 and 1664 or by individual owners. Researchers have studied these families, especially a group of fourteen families that scholars have traced through at least three generations. None of the fourteen families appears to be descended from a white servant woman and an African American man. However, Lutheran church records from the eighteenth century show that a few such couples had children baptized.

“When they first arrived in America as slaves in the 1600s, Africans joined a society” - is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension.
This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 4 comprehension questions. The GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are designed for the purpose of testing candidates’ abilities in understanding, analyzing, and applying information or concepts. Candidates can actively prepare with the help of GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.

Solution and Explanation

[1] The author of the passage is primarily interested in

(A) defending an accepted position on colonial history
(B) analyzing an unproven hypothesis regarding slavery
(C) presenting an alternate view of a historical period
(D) critiquing an outdated theory of colonial development
(E) describing the culmination of a historical trend.

[2] The passage suggests which of the following about African American families in colonial New York and New Jersey?

(A) They were not descended from white servant women and African American men.
(B) They were less numerous than African American families in the colonial South.
(C) Most of them were started between 1644 and 1664.
(D) They began with an initial group of fourteen families.
(E) Some of them may have descended from white servant women.

[3] Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

(A) No free African Americans in the American colonies were the offspring of white slave owners.
(B) Some colonial legislatures passed laws to prevent interbreeding between white colonists and African Americans.
(C) White servants were not as numerous as African American slaves in early America.
(D) Most African Americans in the South were born into slavery.
(E) Records exist to document all births of free African Americans in colonial America.

[4] According to the passage, which of the following is a difference between free African Americans in colonial New York and New Jersey and free African Americans in the colonial South?

1. Those in New York and New Jersey were primarily descended from freed slaves while those in the South were primarily descended from white women.
2. Those in New York and New Jersey were primarily descended from white women while those in the South were primarily descended from freed slaves
3. Both groups of African Americans were primarily descended from freed slaves, but those in the North had been freed earlier.
4. Both groups of African Americans were primarily descended from freed slaves, but those in the South had been freed earlier.
5. Those in the South could be freed only with legislative permission.

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