K. I think if you come across books covering the colonial period in Virginia, South Carolina, Charleston, N.C. and New Orleans, LA. you will find references to early Black immigrants...although granted, some were "indentured servants" along with whites but they were able to earn their freedom.

There is an interesting title: "We Were Always Free: The Maddens of Culpeper County, Virginia, a 200 Year Family History by T.O. Madden. Another: Bounded Lives, Bounded Places: Free Black Society in Colonial New Orleans, 1769-1803 by Kimberly S. Hanger. There is another book, I believe the title is "The Black Charlestonians" but I cannot remember the author's name. Blacks accompanied most of the early explorers to this country, including Columbus. Too many times, one will find only a passing reference to a "free Black" who came from Spain, Portugal or England to this country and assisted these explorers in their exploits.