“I learned in school—we’re going back a ways—that indentures were only seven years for whites servants but that blacks were owned for life.”

-Mark

Mark, this is exactly how the narrative was set down in the late 1800s.

The fact is, indentures were used to enslave whites and blacks for periods ranging from 3-31 years, in an age when 35 was the life expectancy of an agricultural laborer. All of the indentures were subject to extension by the owner.

The seven year term was arrived at by late 19th Century historians during their whitewashing—pun intended—of the foundation of America. It was legal in Great Britain to kidnap and enslave 14-18 year-old boys and girls. For this reason, the standard release date of age 21 would typically result in a seven year indenture if there were no extensions for eating food, back talking, falling asleep at the plough, etc. The fact was that most kidnapping victims were between 10-12 years old and that many children were indentured at birth, which carried a 31 year term. The reason for this was that children under 8 were regarded as a net loss to their master, so had to work off those 8 years factored according to some formula known only to the slave masters of the period.

So, the seven year indenture may be taken as a starting point—a minimum—with the average indenture probably being 13 years, which was the term served by escaped Irish slave, Lord Annesley.