Amici,
Oh, the irony.
Occasionally
I've wondered how the institution of chattel slavery developed in the
American colonies. I remember reading that the first Africans "sold" in
the Virginia Colony were bought from the Dutch in 1609 but that they
were indentured servants, "bound" to their masters for seven years. I
suppose I assumed the full chattel slavery developed from that, but I
was too incurious to pay much attention. I did know that in the "Old
South" there were Africans who owned slaves -- one such was a river boat
owner, a native of Louisiana (Louisiana had a number of such Black
slave owners) -- whose fleets plied the Mississippi, the river being
Federal property, he stayed on his boats when not in Louisiana, and he
bought a young Negro woman he liked and freed her and then married her.
In any event, today I found this story: https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/06/flashback-first-legal-slave-owner-america-black-man/
An excerpt:
Anthony
Johnson (BC 1600 – 1670) was an Angolan who achieved freedom in the early
17th century Colony of Virginia.
Johnson was captured in his native Angola by an enemy
tribe and sold to Arab (Muslim) slave traders. He was eventually sold as an
indentured servant to a merchant working for the Virginia Company.
Sometime after 1635, Antonio and Mary gained their freedom from indenture. Antonio changed his
name to Anthony Johnson.
In 1651 Anthony Johnson owned 250 acres, and the
services of four white and one black indentured servants. The
black indentured servant John Casor (Casar, Cazarao and Corsala) demanded that
Johnson release him after his seven years of indenture.
In March of 1654, according to Delmarva Settlers, Anthony’s servant, a man named John
Casar requested that Johnson release him from his indenture because it had long
expired past the usual seven years. Johnson replied that he knew of no
indenture and that Casar was to be his servant for life. Anthony Johnson’s
neighbors, George and Robert Parker, stated that they knew of another indenture
for the said Casar to a planter on the other side of the bay. They continued to
threaten Johnson with the loss of the servant’s cattle if he were to deny him
his freedom. Johnson, with the influence from his family, released the servant,
and even went to see that John Casar received his freedom dues. Freedom dues
are materials and supplies given to the freed person in order for them to start
their new lives with the necessary materials. In the case of John Casar,
clothing and corn.[110] But after careful reflection, Johnson was certain that
Casar was his servant for life; a slave. Johnson then sued the Parker brothers
for unlawfully taking his property from him, and since there were no other
indentures for John Casar, he was returned to the Johnsons.
The courts ruled in favor of Anthony Johnson and
declared John Casor his property in 1655. Casor became the first person of African descent in Britain’s Thirteen
Colonies to be declared as a slave for life as the result of Johnson’s civil
suit.
In the case of Johnson v. Parker, the court of
Northampton County upheld Johnson’s right to hold Casor as a slave, saying
in its ruling of 8 March 1655:
“This daye Anthony Johnson negro made his complaint to
the court against mr. Robert Parker and declared that hee deteyneth his servant
John Casor negro under the pretence that said negro was a free man. The court
seriously consideringe and maturely weighing the premisses, doe fynde that the
saide Mr. Robert Parker most unjustly keepeth the said Negro from Anthony
Johnson his master … It is therefore the Judgement of the Court and ordered
That the said John Casor Negro forthwith returne unto the service of the said
master Anthony Johnson, And that Mr. Robert Parker make payment of all charges
in the suit.”
In a 1916 article, John H. Russell wrote, “Indeed no
earlier record, to our knowledge, has been found of judicial support given to
slavery in Virginia except as a punishment for a crime.”
So do the black descendants of Anthony Johnson have to pay reparations?
An Préachán
An Préachán
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