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Introduction to Progress
This first timeline shows what progress Anthony Johnson was able to make before the council took that progress away. The events chosen in this timeline are supposed to provide an idea of what kind of freedoms slaves could exercise so the reader will have a better idea of what was taken away from them later on. -
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Progress
These events show the progress that Anthony Johnson saw before the diminishing progress laws were passed. -
"Antonio the Negro" is Named in the cencus.
In 1625, Anthony Johnson was included in the Virginia census as "Antonio the Negroe." His status in the cencus was servant. Unlike slaves, servants get to be free after a certain amount of time. He was a servant because he was Christian, and there was a law saying that Christians were not bound for life. After a servant is free, they can go on and live life just like anyone else. -
Anthony Johnson and Mr.Taylor Share a Cornfield.
In 1645 Anthony Johnson and Mr.Taylor (a white landowner) share a cornfield and each of them gets half of the cornfield. This may seem boring and normal, but for an African it was huge because most free Africans could not be able to get a large amount of land with a cornfield. It also means he is not getting less than a white landowner, he and Mr.Taylor are dividing their land equally, and Anthony's social status is as good as Mr.Taylor's. -
Intoduction to diminishing progress
This timeline shows events that diminished progress. The events in this timeline show how Africans were slowly treated more and more as property and were given less and less rights. It shows how the progress Anthony Johnson saw in the previous timeline got halted an turned around. -
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Diminishing Progress
These are the laws that diminished progress for the African Americans. -
Baptism of Slaves no Longer Means Freedom
Before this law, a slave could be freed from servitude if baptised. That is why this law was a major setback for Africans. It basicly meant that slaves were not able to get out of life bondage unless they bought their own freedom, and because slaves obviously did not get paid, it was very seldom that someone was able to do that. -
Africans, Indians, and Mulattos can not own Christian Servants
This event is prominent because before this law, a freed slave could own a slave. So because of this law, a minority could not have enough free labor to run a large plantation. Also, since minorities could not run large plantations without slaves, they would not be able to sell as many crops. If you think about it, this creates a spiral effect. -
All African, Indian, or Mulatto Slaves are now Property.
This law is the end of the diminishing progress. Slaves are now seen as real estate. Once this law was passed, a slave owner could sell, trade, or buy slaves the same way you could go to the store and buy groceries. Nothing would change in this law until the emancipation proclimation. -
Conclusion
Once all of the laws took place, slavery was in full swing, and would be for a long time. Although, even after slavery was abolished, African Americans and other racial and cultural groups faced descrimination. The Jim Crow laws that took place during reconstruction made it so African Americans could not use the same bathrooms or go to the same resturants as whites. These laws carried into the 1950's and 1960's. Even after that, there was a lot of raceism. So think, was this just a start?
