Anthony Johnson (colonist)

He attained great wealth after completing his term as an indentured servant and has been referred to as "'the black patriarch' of the first community of Negro property owners in America".

The Virginia Muster (census) of 1624 lists his name as "Antonio not given," recorded as "a Negro" in the "notes" column.

[4] Historians dispute whether this was the same António later known as Anthony Johnson, as the census lists several men named "Antonio".

[5] Johnson was sold as an "indentured servant" to merchant Edward Bennett to work on his Virginia tobacco farm, Warrosquoake, on the southern bank of the James River.

[7] Such workers typically worked under a limited indenture contract for four to seven years to pay off their passage, room, board, lodging, and freedom dues.

Those who managed to survive their period of indenture would receive land and equipment after their contracts expired or were bought out.

The Powhatan, who were the indigenous people dominant at that time in the Tidewater region of Virginia, were attempting to evict the colonists.

[10] The colonial government granted Johnson a large plot of farmland after he paid off his indentured contract by his labor.

[11] On July 24, 1651, he acquired 250 acres (100 ha) of land under the headright system by buying the contracts of five indentured servants, one of whom was his son, Richard Johnson.

[12] The land was located on the Great Naswattock Creek, which flowed into the Pungoteague River in Northampton County, Virginia.

[14] In 1652, "an unfortunate fire" caused "great losses" for the family, and Johnson applied to the courts for tax relief.

[15] During the case, the justices noted that Anthony and Mary "have lived Inhabitants in Virginia (above thirty years)" and had been respected for their "hard labor and known service".

[19] This was the first instance of a judicial determination in the Thirteen Colonies holding that a person who had committed no crime could be held in servitude for life.

Casor considered the dispute to be a matter of patron-client relationship, and this wrongful assumption resulted in his losing his case in court and having the ruling against him.

This meant that the children of slave women were born into slavery, even if their fathers were free, European, Christian, and white.

The Virginian colonial government expressed the opinion that since Africans were not Christians, common law could not and did not apply to them.

[29] Anthony Johnson moved his family to Somerset County, Maryland in 1665[citation needed], where he negotiated a lease on a 300-acre (120 ha) plot of land for ninety-nine years.