Just how did slavery start - you just might be surprised.

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Just who is credited with making the first black a slave? A man named Anthony Johnson, here is his story:

www.denofdragons.net/opinetime/TheConfederateHandbook.pdf   page 14

The above story is not spectacular, nor does it give rise to gasps of shock or surprise; what
should surprise and shock you however is this…
Anthony Johnson, the man responsible for slavery in the New World was not named Anthony
Johnson; that was the name he adopted upon arriving in the New World. Anthony Johnson
signed on as an indentured servant under the name “Antonio, a Negro”. You see, slavery was
birthed in the New World by a black man from Africa.

want more proof?:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamestown,_Virginia

about half way down:

Slavery in Virginia

[edit] Indentured servants
In 1650, there were only about 300 "Africans" living in Virginia, about 1% of an estimated 30,000 population. They were not slaves, any more than were the approximately 4000 white indentured servants working out their loans for passage money to Virginia. Many had earned their freedom, and they were each granted 50 acres of land when freed from their indentures, so they could raise their own tobacco or other crops. Although they were at a disadvantage in that they had to pay to have their newly acquired land surveyed in order to patent it, white indentured servants found themselves in the same predicament. Some black indentured servants, however, went on to patent and buy land. Anthony Johnson, who settled on the Eastern Shore following the end of his indenture, even bought African slaves of his own.


[edit] The strange case of John Casor
Although slavery had long been practiced in Spanish colonies to the south, the first recorded instance of slavery in the Virginia Colony was established in 1654. In a lawsuit, Anthony Johnson of Northampton County on Virginia's Eastern Shore convinced a court that he was entitled to the lifetime services of John Casor, a black man.

Anthony Johnson was also a black man. He had been one of 20 black men brought to Jamestown in 1619 as indentured servants. By 1623, he had achieved his freedom and by 1651 was prosperous enough to import five "servants" of his own, for which he was granted 250 acres (1.0 km2) as "headrights".[19]

John Casor alleged that he had come to Virginia as an indentured servant, and attempted to transfer his obligation to a white farmer named Robert Parker. However, Anthony Johnson claimed that "hee had ye Negro for his life".

In the lawsuit of Johnson vs. Parker, the court in Northampton County ruled that "seriously consideringe and maturely weighing the premisses, doe fynde that the saide Mr. Robert Parker most unjustly keepeth the said Negro from Anthony Johnson his master....It is therefore the Judgement of the Court and ordered That the said John Casor Negro forthwith returne unto the service of the said master Anthony Johnson, And that mr. Robert Parker make payment of all charges in the suit."

Casor was thus returned to Johnson. This was the first known judicial approval of life servitude in Virginia, except as punishment for a crime. Casor remained with Anthony Johnson and his wife for the rest of his life, moving with them to Maryland a short time later.

[Dee]

This is going to be interesting. I haven't time to read all now, but will.

[PA-Joe]

There were also slaves and indentured servants in New York City long before Virginia!

[Dee]

Yes there were PA-Joe. Excellent observation. Indentured servants SHOULD be part and parcel of this topic although I have not read all of GaW post. Am I off topic to say so GaW?

[williamlayton]

Many Italians came by this means.
They were not subject to being bought and sold and seperated from their family.
I guess we have justified slavery now.
Blessings

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Yes there were PA-Joe. Excellent observation. Indentured servants SHOULD be part and parcel of this topic although I have not read all of GaW post. Am I off topic to say so GaW?

Dee,
While indentured can and should be included, they were slaves for the time during their indenture, the main thrust of the thread was noting that a black man was the first known to cause Black slavery in the British colonies of North America and that a white man tried to save the slave from his owner.

PA-Joe is more than likely right in that the Dutch were Slave runners so it would be a normal thing to think that they would be in NY, as to how much sooner I'm not so sure,  the two oldest colonies, to my knowledge, are Jamestown and Plymonth Rock. Correct me if I'm wrong. Plus I'm sure that with the Spanish stepping on shore in Central and South America that slavery might have been there first, now as to Black slavery, I don't know. An interesting thought, I'll try and check it out.

[Ga.windbreak]

I came upon this a short while ago, it too is eye opening when you think about it.

Race - The power of an illusion.
A great read to better understand the thinking of the early European settlers of indentured labor.

http://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-background-02-06.htm

Most of the indentured servants were Europeans, often Irish, Scots, English. Sometimes they were people who were captured in wars with the Irish - a phenomenon again that we also don't talk about very much. But the very first slaves that the English made in the Caribbean were Irish. And there were more Irish slaves in the middle of the 17th century than any others.

But there was really no such thing as race then. The idea of race had not been invented. Although "race" was used as a categorizing term in the English language, like "type" or "sort" or "kind," it did not refer to human beings as groups.

....
And what's important to understand is that the laborers and the poor fraternized together. They socialized together. They worked together, they played together, they drank together, they slept together, they lived together. The first mulatto child was born in 1620 [one year after the arrival of the first Africans]. When you read descriptions of the period you get the picture that color doesn't make much difference, physical features don't make much difference to these people, because they were all in the same boat.
....
But the most important one was Bacon's Rebellion. That was 1676. Bacon's Rebellion was one catalyst that caused the leaders of the colonies to try to separate the poor and keep them from being united.

Why were Africans the slaves of choice?

By 1680, you see the beginning of the changes. What had happened - and this is a complicated story - was that colonial leaders had to deal with Bacon and that rebellion. The British sent a fleet of three ships and by the time they got to Virginia, there were 8,000 poor men rebelling who had burned down Jamestown - blacks, whites, mulattos. And it was quite clear that this kind of unity and solidarity among the poor was dangerous.

After that, they began to pass laws, very gradually. They passed laws that gave Europeans privileges while they increasingly enslaved Africans. They passed a number of laws that prevented blacks, Indians, and mulattos from owning firearms, for example. Everybody had firearms. Everybody in Virginia still has firearms!

...
But the Africans also had something else. They had skills which neither the Indians nor the Irish had. The Africans brought here were farmers. They knew how to farm semi-tropical crops. They knew how to build houses. They were brick makers, for example. They were carpenters and calabash carvers and rope makers and leather workers. They were metal workers. They were people who knew how to smelt ore and get iron out of it. They had so many skills that we don't often recognize.

When you read this it makes alot of sense. Can't wait to read your comments.