The British role in America's tainted past

Part of the soul-searching in the US in the two months since the killing of George Floyd has been focused on examining the history that led the country to this point.

Confederate statues have been pulled down in many cities and there are calls for a more honest look at the ways in which slavery, segregation and discrimination have shaped modern day America.

But there are those who feel that there are some beyond these shores who should be reflecting on their country's role in it all.

"Britain put its stamp on America from the beginning. It was Britain who brought the first unfree Africans to this country and helped to start slavery in America," says Professor Cassandra Newby-Alexander, a historian at Norfolk State University in Virginia.

At Old Point Comfort, where people now fish on the nearby jetty, she points out the spot where it is believed the first ship carrying slaves came into what was then the colony of Virginia.