I ended up solving this, so I will leave my info here if anyone else has this problem as I couldn't find any info. So the first generation kindle (slanted keyboard) cannot charge over its USB port. To charge it needs the barrel charger that came with it. I was only able to find this on the internet by searching for Foxlink, which seems to be the company that manufactured it. I may have gotten lucky with the ebay listing, but at least this gives a direction to look. I will attach a picture for reference.
