In 1718 the Governor of Virginia, Alexander Spotswood, was fed up with Pirates. They were living in nearby North Carolina and the Governor of North Carolina did nothing about them. Alexander arrested the former quartermaster of the Queen Anne's Revenge to learn the location of Edward Teach AKA Blackbeard. He organized a mission under lieutenant Robert Maynard to capture Blackbeard. Using two commandeered sloops a force of about 50 men sailed to North Carolina killed Blackbeard and returned to Williamsburg with Blackbeard's head and most of his crew. The crew was tried for piracy and most of them hung.

Do you need a single event or an overview of the entire period?

Bacon's Rebellion in 1676 was a major uprising by poor whites against the planter elite. Among its effects was the preference by planters for slaves rather than indentured servants (which, if they survived long enough to be freed, became poor whites) and, arguably, the birth of American racism. American Freedom, American Slavery by Edmund S. Morgan is THE book to read on this. The fact that Virginia high schools don't mention it at all is a testament to the low quality of American history education.