Sunday, July 2, 2017

Anthony Johnson: The Father of American Slavery


Anthony Johnson

       As promised in the last blog, here is the story of Anthony Johnson, nicknamed "The Father of American Slavery." What makes Anthony Johnson special, just take a look at the drawing depicting him above. Johnson was born around 1600 in Angola, Africa. He was brought to Virginia as an indentured servant around 1621. He worked his required years and was freed and given land. He became a successful tobacco farmer in Maryland. It was there that he obtained five indentured servants, four white, and one black. Make sure you understand what I just told you. He had four white servants (slaves). Bet you never were taught that in school. 
       The period of indentured service at the time was four to seven years. Anthony married another African slave named Mary and they had gained their freedom by 1635. By 1651, Anthony had a successful tobacco farm and owned five servants, four white, and one black. In 1653, John Casor, the black servant claimed his indenture had expired and he was being held illegally by Johnson. The story is complicated with a neighbor attempting to gain the services of Casor and a court case resolved the issue. It was the first time in America that a person was held in servitude (slavery) for life. Prior to this time, one could be held in servitude for a lifetime only if he'd committed a crime. Two white planters swore in court that Casor had served his time, yet the court still sided with Johnson. Now we have all been convinced by modern historians that black men could not win in court versus whites. This case proves that assumption wrong. Anthony Johnson died around 1670 after earning the nickname "The Father of American Slavery." 
       I looked up Anthony Johnson on Snopes and found they agreed with everything I've written above. Its easy to tell by the way they worded their article that it galled them somewhat to admit the above was true, but they had little choice. They go on to list other facts about slavery that very few want to admit was true. Here is what they list. In 1830, 3,775 black people owned 12,740 black slaves. At the time of the Indian removal in 1838, three tribes, the Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws owned 3,500 African slaves. At a latter point the Cherokee tribe owned 3,500. In 1860, William Ellison, a free black man in South Carolina owned 63 black slaves. There were 171 black slave owners at the time in South Carolina alone. There are a lot more interesting facts on Snopes and you can tell they attempt to put a spin on the ones that aren't politically correct. 
       My buddy Pat, a member of the S.C.V. in the Joe Wheeler Camp in Birmingham said that he liked me because I just tell it like it is. I wish everyone else would do the same and quit trying to be so politically correct. If your statement is a fact, just say this is how it was, there is no need to say this is correct, but let me put a spin on it so it doesn't hurt so much. 

13 comments:

  1. Now this is a real revelation. I knew that the first Blacks in America arrived as indentured servants and not slaves, but I was unaware of the role of this gentleman of the South in making Black enslavement permanent. Looks like a good topic for African-American history month.

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    1. They don't wanna hear this story trust me. Send your email address to me at alabama26th@yahoo.com and I'll give you more info that will shock you.

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  2. This is a thoroughly distorted and misleading account. Tim's got an agenda, and it is NOT educating people about real history.

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    1. Tim Kent has an agenda, I suppose so, but I don't hide behind fake names and I have sources. I am not politically correct.

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    2. You would be wrong. He has no agenda except historical truth!

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  3. You should delete this blog article or remove Lewis Hayden's portrait.

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  4. I got this image from wikipedia, which may be an incorrect image, I don't know for sure, but the article is true. I'm not going to argue with you because of your disbelief because of a picture. Just pretend history is how you want it to appear and I'm sure the government will make it so eventually.

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  5. Yep, your right, the same photograph is Lewis Hayden's, but the story is true, so let's all pretend Anthony Johnson didn't exist. Let's hide behind an unknown name ad pretend we have a set.

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  6. And you are Unkown. How does that work on your taxes?

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  7. The underlying fact that Mr. Johnson was a black slave holder and won his case in court about 1655 is accurate. That is a far cry, however, from his being the “Father of American Slavery.” First, there is no body of research on whether he actually was the first person to win such a judgment. Second, he did not promote slavery. Third, the conditions under which he lived in Virginia were more like indentured servitude. All of that began to change rapidly about ten years later after the Restoration of the English monarchy, which drastically changed the character of American slavery beginning in the 1660s. The Duke of York and his brother, King Charles II, were responsible for the enactment of strict slave laws, and actively promoted and profited from a new more brutal form of slavery. This is discussed extensively at https://www.DukeYork.org.

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