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Bells To Ring Out Marking 400 Years Since Beginning Of Slavery In Virginia

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Wherever you are today at 3 p.m. Eastern, stop for a moment and listen. You're likely to hear bells. Bells will ring across the country to mark this, the day 400 years ago that the first enslaved Africans were brought to the English colonies in North America. The ship carrying them landed at Virginia's Point Comfort, miles from the Jamestown settlement. The captain traded them in exchange for food. What followed was a shameful long and brutal period in our nation's history, one that's still felt today. The National Park Service has asked all national parks, community partners and the public to join in a day of healing by ringing a bell for four minutes. That's one minute for every century that's passed since August 25, 1619. You can listen and reflect or add in the sound of your own bell.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.