Many Sold Themselves into Indentured Servitude in Exchange For a Ticket to The New World
For years, indentured servitude was a popular practice in England. In the 1600’s, many people were immigrating to the “New World” to find a better life. But not everyone could afford a ticket. This is when many of the poor would become indentured servants. They signed a contract promising to work for a certain period of time for free in exchange for transportation to Virginia as well as food and shelter once they arrived. Adults worked as indentured servants for an average of four to seven years. For some reason, children were forced into labor contracts that were much longer. Unfortunately, a lot of these travelers died of disease, or were terribly mistreated by the farmers in charge of them. By the end of the seventeenth century, fewer people were willing to become indentured servants, and farmers began to use enslaved Africans.