The following is from The Confederate Handbook by Curtis Patranella (page 14):
It was common practice in the early days of Colonization of the New World for the wealthy to sponsor the poor for passage to the New World. In exchange for passage, the poor would become an indentured servant for a limited amount of time (usually 2 to 7 years).
After their term of service, an indentured servant would receive their freedom and a modest plot of land to call their own.
Anthony Johnson came to Jamestown in 1619 as an indentured servant; and within 4 years, he worked off his debt and settled down with his wife as a land owner. By 1651, Anthony Johnson became wealthy enough to sponsor 5 individuals for passage to the New World. The sponsorship not only garnered Anthony workers, but also increased his land holdings by 250 acres in headrights.
Unlike his contemporaries, Anthony Johnson put a twist in the normal sponsorship, when he outright purchased one of his wards (an African) as a slave.
Within a year or two, John Casor (the slave) pleaded with a local farmer (Robert Parker) to save him. Casor stated that Anthony Johnson had sponsored him as an indentured servant and that he had worked off his debt, but Mr. Johnson refused to release him.
Outraged, Robert Parker took John Casor under his wing. Anthony took Parker to court. After a year and a half court battle, the English Court had to make a ruling on something they never had before… whether a man could possess another man as chattel.
In 1654, the decision was rendered, and the court ruled that “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.”.
John Casor had become the first ever slave of the New World Colonies.
The People of Jamestown, and elsewhere, began to see the benefit and cost savings of purchasing Africans outright for a life of servitude, as opposed to sponsoring freemen for a limited duration, and slavery was underway in force.
The above story is not spectacular, nor does it give rise to gasps of shock or surprise; what should surprise and shock you however is this…
Anthony Johnson, the man responsible for slavery in the New World was not named Anthony Johnson; that was the name he adopted upon arriving in the New World. Anthony Johnson signed on as an indentured servant under the name “Antonio, a Negro”. You see, slavery was birthed in the New World by a black man from Africa.
I am sure that this accomplishment will not be the subject of a Black History Month special.
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The Left will howl about this. They could not accept that a Free Black man started Slavery in the US.
Unfortunately, they won’t howl about it at all. They simply bury it, then ignore it, then attempt to discredit it.
The only way that this sort of thing ever works toward the truth is when we make sure that our children and grandchildren and so on down the line are told the truth. The public schools will not do it, and many of the private schools won’t either.
This wouldn’t be howled about or discredited. It would simply be the truth. As a black man, I accept the fact that it was the Afrikaan Kings who first started slave trade. It is just a matter of being ignorant to truth. All we’re ever taught is that we were brought over into slavery, then when we go to higher institutions we learn more indepth information. I’ll continue being educated! Thanks!
Thank you, Mr. Clark, for adding your perspective to the discussion. I count it as an honor to have you here and I hope that we will see more commentary from you, sir.
Hot darn! My memory was better than I thought!
No. It won’t be howled about,it will just be recognized for the mis-information that it is. Mr. Johnson’s slave was the first in Virginia. The first African American slave was a man who escaped with two white indentured servants, was caught and sentenced to slavery in 1640.
Just a quick note about Ms. McKay’s contribution – it’s a matter of semantics. First off, Punch was not considered African American as America was not considered a nation. He would have still been considered simply African. Nothing wrong with that, just an important PC distinction.
Secondly, his lifetime servitude was a penalty for trying to escape a debt. Not that it’s fair – just saying it was a prison sentence not a purchase and sales agreement as was Johnson’s slave. The court ruled that a man can be purchased for life servitude in Johnson’s case as opposed to being sentenced as a penalty.
The fact remains that the precedence to purchase another for life servitude was set by a black man.
Antonio, a Negro, or Mr. Johnson’s case might be the first that the researcher came across with. Before 1654 there have been thousands of indentured servants in the colonies who have been denied their freedom and didn’t take their owners to court and they just ran away. A court that rules Mr Robert Parker’s humanitarian action to help to a man who worked off his debt to freedom unjust shouldn’t be call Court, but a bunch of them!!