The Mason Family, Slave Trade, and Enslaved Children

Thomson Mason, the youngest brother of George Mason IV, was a slave dealer. Although it is not certain, George Mason IV may have bought laborers from this sibling, including children who were shipped from Africa to Virginia. The Middle Passage, the journey that took enslaved people across the Atlantic Ocean, was undoubtedly a traumatic experience that did not end with arrival in America. The African girls and boys imported to the Chesapeake region had to adjust to a new environment that dehumanized them.