The topic of race, more than any other, generates taboos. And taboos are the enemy of history and of truth. In the early 17th century when slavery started in America, another group was brought to this country by force. They were white indentured servants. Starting in 1618, children were captured from the streets of London and sold into colonial America. But it didn't stop there. Over the next century and a half, another 150,000 Irish men, women and children were declared soldiers of war by Britain and sold into colonial indentured servitude with many landing in Virginia and New England. Indentured servitude was not slavery. It didn't have the same ideology of racial dehumanization. And it was for a limited period, typically seven years. Yet, these people often had their term extended or died before they got their freedom. Indentured servants worked side by side with slaves. For many years, white indentured servants outnumbered black slaves.