WP: Mystery of Va. slaves is unlocked� - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com: JAMESTOWN - They were known as the '20 and odd,' the first African slaves to set foot in North America at the English colony settled in 1607.
For nearly 400 years, historians believed they were transported to Virginia from the West Indies on a Dutch warship. Little else was known of the Africans, who left no trace.
Now, new scholarship and transatlantic detective work have solved the puzzle of who they were and where their forced journey across the Atlantic Ocean began.
