# Anthony Johnson Topic: [[Topics/Slavery, Colonialism and Teaching History/Slavery, Colonialism and Teaching History|Slavery, Colonialism and Teaching History]] · People in this topic are listed on the hub. - **Who:** (d. 1670) an African brought to Virginia in 1621 as a servant; freed, he became a landowner on the Eastern Shore. In 1655 the Northampton County court returned John Casor to him as a servant for life, the first civil ruling in the colonies recognizing lifelong servitude ([Encyclopedia Virginia](https://encyclopediavirginia.org/primary-documents/court-ruling-on-anthony-johnson-and-his-servant-1655/)). ## Role in this topic - The basis of @xentrik812's "First slave owner in America was black" ([post](https://x.com/xentrik812/status/2113600442030596253)), the post Marshall replied to. ⚠️ Misleading: Africans were held in Virginia from 1619 and enslaved people in Spanish Florida earlier; Johnson's case is a legal first, not the first slaveholding.