Analysis of York County Records

     By 1648, the difference in attitude towards black labor and white labor was already becoming apparent in York County. Whereas English indentured servants were only expected to work for a specified number of years, Africans were kept for life. From these records, it is clear that Africans were expected to produce a considerably larger amount of tobacco than their European counterparts. This was quite a change from the status quo of three decades prior, when skin color had little effect on the treatment of laborers.