It appears that, without indentures, the default condition for people of
African descent in Virginia became slavery for life.
In July 1640 Negro John Punch was ordered to serve for life, but the white
servants who ran away with him were sentenced to serve additional time after
the completion of their indentures.
Joseph Douglas Deal's research of the extensive Eastern Shore records
includes the sale of "Negro John" by Ann Littleton in June 1640.
The subject of time served does not appear in the many cases he relates of
Negroes who obtained their freedom in the mid-17th century.
Ann Littleton devised 13 "Negros and their increase" by her 1656 Northampton
County will.
Paul
-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Finkelman
Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2019 10:26 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] John Casor
Anthony Johnson was NEVER a slave; he was an indentured servant, and
probably gained his freedom about 1623 or 24. There are scattered instances
of people claiming blacks as slaves in Virginia in the 1630s but no formal
recognition of it. In 1640 a court sentenced John Punch to lifetime
servitude for running away, but there was no system of "slavery." My best
guess is that Punch was a victim of racism and opportunism or that he had
run away before and the court simply gave him a life sentence for running
away too often. The record is unclear and the answer is not fully clear.
In 1656 a court held that a black man was "a slave" and he appealed. But as
late as the 1670s Virginia court held that some blacks had been brought to
the colony as indentured servants and were entitled to be free.
However, the first "formal" recognition of slavery in VA was the passaged of
this law in 1660. "An Act for the Dutch and other Strangers for Tradeing to
this Place," Act XVI, March 1659-60 (1 Hening's Statutes 540). The law was
passed in 1660 according to modern dating systems and 1659 according to the
older (Julian) Calendar, when New Year's Day was March 25.
********
PaulFinkelman, Ph.D.
President
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On Tuesday, May 7, 2019 07:58:34 AM EDT, Boris
Sokolovsky <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Since there were no laws regarding slavery for life(all "slaves" were
brought in as indentured servants with time restricted contracts) what was
the first established by law case of slavery?
Many resources point at the Johnson vs Parker case.
Can you clarify the issue?
On Mon, May 6, 2019 at 1:11 PM Paul Heinegg <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> No, but he may have been the first slave owned by a former slave.
>
> Casor sued for his freedom from former slave Anthony Johnson in
> Northampton
> County, Virginia, in 1653, but Johnson insisted that "hee had ye Negro for
> his life" [Orders, Deeds, Wills, 1651-54, 226].
> John Casor/ Cazara travelled with the Johnson family to Somerset County,
> Maryland, where he recorded his livestock mark in court, with the consent
> of
> Anthony's widow Mary Johnson [Archives of Maryland, 54:760-1].
> He was a witness (signing) to her power of attorney by which she assigned
> her son John Johnson authority over her property in Virginia [Somerset
> County Judicial Record, 1671-75, 159-62].
> Paul
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Boris Sokolovsky
> Sent: Saturday, May 04, 2019 3:14 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [VA-HIST] John Casor
>
> Was John Casor one of the first legal black slave?
>
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