There were not any blacks on the Mayflower, nor were there any early black residents of Plymouth. The first black known to have seen Plymouth was a 30-year old man named John Pedro, presumably a servant or slave. He was a passenger on the Swan which arrived at Plymouth in the early summer of 1622 and stayed a short time before continuing on to Virginia. There John Pedro took up residence in Elizabeth City, Virginia.
There are no further records of any blacks in Plymouth until the 1643 list of men able to bear arms for the town of Plymouth. This was a list of men aged 16 to 60 who were given permission by the court to carry a musket within the city. One of the men granted this right was recorded as "the blackamore". In 1855, this list was published with a typographical error which joined this seperate entry with the previous man on the list, Abraham Pierce. This has caused some authors and historians to misread the record to say that Abraham Pierce, a passenger on the ship Fortune in 1621, was black. However, an examination of the court records, probate records and vital records of Plymouth Colony show clearly that Abraham Pierce was white.
The fact that the nameless man was simply identified as "the blackamore" in the list seems to suggest that in 1643 there was only one adult male black living in Plymouth. Researchers have been unable to identify his name, but some have suggested without much evidence that he was named Hercules Hill. The fact he was granted the right to carry a gun within the town shows he must not have been a slave.
The next mention of a black in Plymouth records seems to be a 1653 court record mentioning a "neager maide servant of John Barnes" who testified on her master's behalf in a lawsuit against John Smith. Blacks are mentioned more frequently following the 1650s, mostly named in court and probate records.
During the King Philip's War of 1676, a black named Jethro was captured by the Indians, but taken back by the colonists a few days later. In a subsequent court action, he was ordered to be a servant for two more years and then he was to be freed. Plymouth, for the most part, had servants and not slaves, meaning that their term of service was up and they were freed when they reached a certain age--usually 25.