The New England colonies grew rapidly in the late 1600s, and African labor became critical to the economic growth of the North. Although there were slaves in New Haven as early as 1644, most African Americans in Connecticut at that time were indentured servants purchased in coastal cities, who generally served their master from four to seven years until full payment of their purchase price was made. However, as the New England economy became more heavily based on the "triangluar trade" with Africa and Europe, it became  convenient to purchase black slaves in New London and New York. By the 1720s enslaved labor was contributing to Fairfield County's growing commerce in agricultural products. While there were only 30 slaves in Connecticut in 1680, by 1774 their numbers had swelled to 6,562 black slaves, or 3.4% of the colony's population. Although slave labor was used to operate large farms in the more fertile soil of eastern Connecticut and Rhode Island, slaves and free blacks in the Greenwich area worked as domestics and laborers on family farms.

Image: Shackles, late 18th century. Courtesy Mr. Craig Kelly.