The first ever African slaves arrived in Virginia in 1619. Most of them arrived in Georgia, because Georgia was a bigger colony at the time. In 1787, Slavery was made illegal in the Northwest Territory, even though the U.S. Constitution stated that Congress may not ban slaves until 1808. There were twice as many male slaves than female slaves, and most of the enslaved males were about 15 - 35 years old. It has been estimated that more than 1 million Africans died between the times they were captured and forced onto ships.
When the slaves were captured, it looked something like this: