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Introduction
Anthony Johnson came to Jamestown, Virginia in 1920 as a slave, but eventually bought his own freedom and purchased land. Despite this progress, Anthony's sons and grandsons had their rights and their land snatched away from them. This timeline shows diminishing progress throughout the decades. -
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Life of Anthony Johnson & Sons
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Anthony the Negro aquires Land in Northampton County
Anthony Johnson, a Negro, aquires land from Captain Taylor on about July 10, 1645. Both of them went to the corn field and when they returned, Anthony stated that he now knew what land was his, and what land was Captain Taylor's. This is important because even though Anthony was a Negro, Captain Taylor (an Englishman) gave him land and Anthony grew into a successful & indepenent plantation owner. -
Anthony wins a court case over an Englishman
Anthony Johnson and Mr. Robert Parker went to court to settle a dispute over Mr. Johnson's slave, John Casar. Mr. Parker stated that he was an indentured servant and his time was up, whereas Mr. Johnson stated that he was a slave for life. Anthony Johnson won this court case and Mr. Robert Parker was fined. The slave was returned to Mr. Johnson. This event is important because it shows that Anthony Johnson was a respected member of the community and was treated similarly to an Englishman. -
Children born in bondage, stay in bondage.
As of December 1662, the children of an enslaved mother will also be a slave for life. They also increased the fine to discourage people of opposite race to marry and/or have children. This step was important because it was a dramatic step away from English tradition,as previously the child recieved his/her status from the father. -
Casual Killing of Slaves
Act 1 allows corporal punishment, including killing, to be legal since there was no other way to correct your slave since you could not extend their time of service. This law is important to diminishing progress because it shows the loss of legal protection of a slave's life as well as being the first law in 30 years to take away rights of Africans. -
All Negro, Mulatto, & Indian slaves within this dominion to be property.
This act declared all Indian, Negro, & Mulatto slaves within this dominion to be real estate. This was the final & most important step of diminishing progress. This step was important because not only had they taken away all of the slaves' rights and freedoms, they had also outright referred to them as "real estate". This was the point that took away their title of "human". -
Conclusion
Anthony Johnson had lived a great life, but was slowly being undermined due to encroaching laws into Negro's, Indian's, & Mulatto's rights and freedoms. This timeline showed diminishing progress, from where the community once had accepted & treated Anthony Johnson similar to a white man, to point where they considered his race as "property" and not humans.
