The Founding Father of Slavery
in Colonial America
(Quotes from "The Black and White of Racism" by Waylon Allen)

I wonder if most people realize that the first official slave owner in the American colonies was an African.

 

'The first official slave owner in America was an Angolan who adopted the European name of Anthony Johnson. He was sold to the slave traders in 1621 by an enemy tribe in his native Africa, and was registered as “Antonio, a Negro: in the official records of the Colony of Virginia.

 

Prior to 1654, all Africans in the thirteen colonies were held in indentured servitude and were released after a contracted period with many of the indentured receiving land and equipment after their contracts for work expired. Johnson would later take ownership of a large plot of farmland after the expiration of his contract and, using the skills he had learned during his indentured labor service, Johnson became moderately successful.

 

By July 1651, Johnson had five indentured servants of his own. In 1664, he brought a case before Virginia courts in which he contested a suit launched by one of his indentured servants, a Negro who adopted the name John Casor. Johnson won the suit and retained Casor as his servant for life, who thus became the first official and true slave in America.' "(10)

 

Click Below
To Read Additional Excerpts

From the Book

 

Slavery in Early America:
The Untold Facts

 

White Slaves

 

The Founding Father of Slavery
in Colonial America

 

Black Slave Owners

 

Abolition

And the Cost of Human Lives

in the Civil War

 

 

REFERENCE

(10) "Hidden Facts about Slavery in America. The New Observer. [Online] NewObserverOnline.com.

(The copyrighted text of this excerpt from “The Black and White of Racism” by Waylon Allen (Page 24). This quote may be reprinted with an acknowledgement that the material is quoted from the book, The Black and White of Racism, by Waylon Allen)