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Diminishing Progress (overview)
Contrary to popular belief, it was not immediately horrible for Africans when people first came to the colonies. Things started out okay for Africans--slavery did exist, but Africans weren't the only ones who were discriminated against. People also classified by religion--in fact, if you were Christian, it was against the law for you to be kept in bondage for life. But things--slowly but surely--got a lot worse. Some good things did happen, but mostly bad--hence Diminishing Progress. -
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Timespan of Diminishing Progress (The Lives of Anthony Johnson and Sons)
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Part 1 Anthony Johnson and Family (overview)
Anthony Johnson (first Antonio) arrived in Virginia in 1621. He was first enslaved not, in fact, because he was an African, but because he was captured into slavery. He worked as a slave on the Bennett plantation for around 20 years, where he married his wife Mary (first Maria). He later bought his own and his wife Mary's freedom. -
Part 2 Anthony Johnson and Family (overview)
They went on to own a plantation with 250 acres, cattle, hogs, corn, and tobacco, and two slaves of their own, and to have four children. Anthony was baptised as a Christian. He later won a case against a white man, which was seen as a great accomplishment for his time and position. -
Part 1 All Englishmen, but no Black Men, are to be Provided With Guns and Ammunition
This law caused all people except for Africans to have guns and ammunition. It created a lawful discrimination against Africans for the first time, showing that they were not to be as trusted as Englishmen. This law also caused Africans to be more dependent on Englishmen for food and protection. It gave Englishmen more control and superiority, putting up the first legal divide between Africans and Englishmen. -
Part 2 All Englishmen, but no Black Men, are to be Provided With Guns and Ammunition
A recent columnist writing about gun control laws states, “We know that gun control laws have racist origins.” Could there be truth in that statement? Could it be true that “There’s a direct correlation between gun control and black people control,"? This law was the very start of racial discrimination, and it got worse and worse from here. Something so seemingly trivial got so intesnse and racist that plantation owners are commonly known today as some of the "bad guys" of history. -
Part 1 Captain Taylor and Anthony Johnson Split Their Cornfeilds
Anthony Johnson and his Captain Taylor split their cornfeilds, making it so that Anthony now had his own land. This was important because, as Anthony says, "I can now work when I please and play when I please." He was no longer obligated to work the feilds when Captain Taylor told him to, and they would no longer depend on one another for food--they both had their own land to work, whenever they wanted to, and their own corn to harvest and eat, when they wanted to. -
Part 2 Captain Taylor and Anthony Johnson Split Their Cornfeilds
This case also shows that Captain Taylor saw Anthony Johnson, despite the fact that he was an African, as at least somewhat of an equal--definitely not as property, as Africans would later be seen. -
Part 2 Anthony Johnson Wins a Court Case Over His Slave Against Mr. Robert Parker
Click here to learn more: This proves that he was fitting in with the white men of this era, something that would not last long into the future for the African race. Another interesting point brought up was that "Before this court case, there was no such thing as a "slave". There were only indentured servants. Therefore, The first legal SLAVE owner in America was BLACK!" This statement, in itself, is enough to flip you thoughts and principles about slavery and how it got started. -
Part 1 Anthony Johnson Wins a Court Case Over His Slave Against Mr. Robert Parker
Anthony Johnson went to court for the second time over his slave, John Casar, winning the case against Mr. Robert Parker, who was white. This was definite progress for Anthony and the African race in general, because it was very unusual--almost unheard of--then for an African to win a court case against an Englishman. It also shows that Anthony was free and owned a plantation, with enough land to need a slave. -
Part 1 If a Slave Master "Casually Kills" Their Slave During Punishment, They are Not to be Taken to Court
In the book American Law and the Constitutional Order Historical Perspectives, it says, "...the accidental death of a slave while receiving 'moderate correction' was not homicide. Killing a slave in the act of rebellion or when resisting legal arrest was always 'justifiable homicide.'" Does this law seem fair? Of course not. But some poeple of the 1600s did not realize how bad things were getting, and would continue to get. -
Part 2 If a Slave Master "Casually Kills" Their Slave During Punishment, They are Not to be Taken to Court
This law was terrible because it made murder okay--as long as you were a white slave owner and the victim was your slave, and you killed them during punishment, because poor landowners, what else were they supposed to do? They couldn't extend their slaves' time of service now that they had them for life! But that was not they only thing. It also intruduced the concept that Africans were no longer only not seen as equals, but now, they were officially seen as property. -
Part 3 If a Slave Master "Casually Kills" Their Slave During Punishment, They are Not to be Taken to Court
The law states, '...it cannot be presumed that prepensed malice should induce any man to destroy his own estate.' Africans are not even given the respect of animals anymore, much less humans! Slave masters were looking for their slaves to realize that they could be killed, if they did not obey...they were looking for fear and acceptance, human qualities, from people not given the respect and rights of humans. -
Part 1 Only Englishmen Can Ever Hold Office--no Africans, Mulattoes, Indians, or Criminals
This law discouraged any hope for Africans and slaves for any loosening of the slave laws, ever--no African could hold office. Even if he married an Englishman, and their child did too, and so on and so forth, everyone up to the great-great-grandchild of an African was classified as a mulatto, and therefore could not hold office. It would also discourage marriage between races, further dividing the two races from eachother. -
Part 2 Only Englishmen Can Ever Hold Office--no Africans, Indians, Mulattoes, or Criminals
What's more, the law aslo grouped Africans, and all of the other races, with criminals, which is something that I would be very offended at. It said that they were not trusted, or respected, and didn't deserve to have any say in anything. The fact that only one point of view--the Englishmen's--was represented in office also made the laws that were passed worse and worse, with no one to walk a mile in the slaves' shoes. -
Part 2 Conclusion to Diminishing Progress
Most people think of slavery, and the "evil" landowners, as being horrible and predjudice, right from the very beginning. But really, it got worse than it initially was, bit by bit, little by little, at such a pace that no one nothiced how bad things were getting until it got too bad to change. They were--without realizing it--digging themselves into a pit of discrimination that would cost years, wars, and many lives to get out of. -
Part 1 Conclusion to Diminishing Progress
Jains, a spirituality of people from ancient India with certain beleifs, thought the lives of all living things to be sacred. They would do anything they could to avoid damamging or hurting, in any way, any and all bugs and insects. They would no doubt be horrified upon seeing the way we thoughtlessly squish all kinds of bugs under our shoes without a care today, much of the same way we feel when we look at the way Englishmen from the 16th-17th centuries treated Africans. -
Part 3 Conclusion to Diminishing Progress
So when you think about it, slave owners and Englishmen were not truly the "bad guys" of history. Things happened all around them that they, sooner or later, could not control or change--because they saw no reason to until it was too late. They weren't the bullies, they were the bystanders. So think--could it happen again? Would you try--or know how--to stop it?
