[ekianjo]

> with the indentured servant class of colonist

Actually this has nothing to do with slavery. Indentured servants were a real thing back in the days, with poor people accepting to work for x years to pay for their passage to the New World, and after that they were usually granted their freedom (not 100% always the case, I know). Slaves were, for the most part, never able to gain their Freedom back, and were slaves for generations.

So indentured servants were really under a limited term contract, while slaves were slaves forever.

[douche]

Oh, I'm well aware - my family tree traces back to an indentured servant that bailed on his master before his term was up and ran away from the Massachusetts Bay Colony to live in the wilds of Vermont.

And some of the first Africans were brought to the colonies under terms of indentured servitude, and became free the same as the poor whites after some years.

[ekianjo]

Yup. And there are cases of indentured servants who were abused into slavery because of their illiteracy too.