There are a few premises in the initial post that I would consider suspect,
but I'm sure better scholars on the list will weigh in. I hope they will,
because a few of these assumptions have troubled me for some time.

How can we consider the "20 and odd" Africans who arrived in Virginia in
1619 as "indentured servants with time restricted contracts" if they were
taken from a Spanish slave ship by English raiders and traded in the
colony?

Do we know that there were "no laws regarding slavery for life" anywhere in
Britain and its colonies? I ask that because we seem to assume that a lack
of statutes means "no law," but British law, as I understand it, was
largely based on the common law.

Can we EVER assume a "first" in terms of the law of slavery in Virginia
given the massive loss of early records?

Gregg



On Tue, May 7, 2019 at 7:58 AM 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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-- 
Dr. Gregg D. Kimball
Director of Public Services and Outreach
Library of Virginia
804-692-3722 (work)
804-909-4501 (cell)

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