Where did the black indentured servants who came to the American Colonies come from?

by omnipotentsandwich

Before slavery, there were a number of black indentured servants who lived alongside white and Native ones. Where did they come from? Were they West Africans like the future slaves would be or were they from a different area?

omnipotentsandwich

The reason I ask is because I'm probably the descendant of Melungeons (many of my recent ancestors have the typical melungeon surnames like Osborne or Russell and the more distant ones were from Virginia and North Carolina where the melungeons ultimately come from). They were the product of unions between black indentured servants and white ones who eventually moved to Appalachia and intermarried. I wanted to see where they came from ultimately.

It'd also be interesting to see if any aspects of their culture can be found in modern day Appalachian culture.

Edit: I saw one imply they were Angolans, Kongo or Ambundu people. I don't know if that's true.