Cover art for the episode Indentured Workers (International Workers' Day)

Podcast episode

Indentured Workers (International Workers' Day)

History of North America May 1, 2026 12 min

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The first day of May is International Workers' Day, so let's examine the practice of importing workers from France and England to North America as a profitable business during early colonial times.

To satisfy the continent’s need for labor, agreements between two parties about long-term work gained popularity.

The length of servitude might be a specified number of years or until the laborer reached a certain age.

Many people indentured themselves in order to gain passage to North America or to escape debt and poverty.

Check out the YouTube version of this episode at https://youtu.be/WollKk_JPCs which has accompanying visuals including maps, charts, timelines, photos, illustrations, and diagrams.

New France books available at https://amzn.to/3nXKYzy    Khan Academy available at https://amzn.to/3HSo0jt  Indentured Servants books available at https://amzn.to/3KLGJR8  Jamestown products available at https://amzn.to/3RW5kEm International Workers' Day books at https://amzn.to/4naOGjW ENJOY Ad-Free content, Bonus episodes, and Extra materials when joining our growing community on https://patreon.com/markvinet  SUPPORT this channel by purchasing any product on Amazon using this FREE entry LINK https://amzn.to/3POlrUD (Amazon gives us credit at NO extra charge to you).

By the way, April 29 is International Dance Day.

Mark Vinet's HISTORICAL JESUS podcast at https://parthenonpodcast.com/historical-jesus Mark's TIMELINE video channel: https://youtube.com/c/TIMELINE_MarkVinet   Website: https://markvinet.com/podcast  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.vinet.9 Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkVinet_HNA   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels   Mark's books: https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM   Sources: Canada-A People’s History Volume 1 by D.

Gillmor & P.

Turgeon (McClelland & Stewart Ltd. 2000); Khan Academy: Jamestown series with Kim.

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