56 Atlantic African, American, and European Backgrounds to Contact, Commerce, and EnslavementCaribbean islands. Because the Virginia planters could not
yet absorb shiploads of slaves directly from Africa, they ac-
quired slaves a few at a time from trading ships that had
already stopped at Spanish, Portuguese, or Dutch colonies
that had been importing Africans for a century before the
founding of Jamestown. Prior to their arrival in Virginia,
these Creole slaves had already become familiar with many
aspects of European culture, such as their languages, styles
of dress and manners, legal systems, and Christian religion.
Th us, the fi rst blacks in Virginia seemed less foreign, less
“savage,” than would later arrivals coming directly from
Africa.
Because slaves were both few in number and oft en ac-
culturated to European ways, 17th-century black Virginians
faced less discrimination than slaves would a century later.
Some mastered English society so thoroughly that histori-
ans have dubbed them “black Englishmen.” One example
of a black who thrived in the racially fl uid 17th century
was Anthony Johnson. When Johnson arrived in Virginia
in 1621, he was known simply as “Antonio a Negro.” By
1635, he and his wife, Mary, had obtained their freedom
and moved to the eastern shore of Virginia. Johnson and
his family eventually acquired land and slaves of their own.
When Johnson’s slave, Casor, ran away and sought shelter
with Johnson’s white neighbors, Johnson successfully sued
in court for the return of his slave. Johnson’s life illustrates
much about slavery and race relations in 17th-century Vir-
ginia. First, he moved from slavery to freedom. Laws had
not yet been passed that limited an owner’s ability to manu-
mit his or her slaves, and many owners chose to do so. Be-
fore 1680, 20 percent of blacks were free in some Virginia
counties. Second, Johnson was able to purchase land and
prosper as a small farmer. Just as white indentured servants
were sometimes able to become successful landowners at the
end of their indentures, Johnson’s status as a freedman and
a black man did not limit his opportunities. Th ird, Johnson
became a slave owner in his own right. As a tobacco planter,
he had the same need for labor as white planters did. Th ere
is no evidence that Johnson’s neighbors were troubled by
a black slave owner, or that Johnson himself was troubled
with a sense of hypocrisy. Finally, Johnson was able to win a
court case against his white neighbors for the return of his
slave. His race did not limit his legal rights; his ownership of
land and labor gave him status in his community. Property
was more important than race in marking a person’s worth
in 17th-century Virginia. Further, the court found in hischanges in the last quarter of the century—particularly
aft er Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676—eroded the opportunities
that blacks had taken advantage of earlier in the settlement’s
history. By 1699, when Jamestown lost its position as the
colony’s capital, Virginia blacks had likewise lost most of
the potential for freedom and economic independence that
they had briefl y enjoyed.
Th e fi rst record of Africans in Virginia is the purchase
planter John Rolfe (widower of Pocahontas) made of 20
blacks from a Dutch ship in 1619. Recent research throws
into question whether the slaves were newly arrived from
Africa or transplanted slaves from the sugar-producing
islands of the Caribbean, or if the ship was really Dutch.
Another unanswered question is whether the score of
blacks purchased by Rolfe were treated as slaves for life, or
as indentured servants, serving for a term of years before
earning their freedom. Rolfe’s purchase of African labor in
1619 was one way of satiating Virginia’s new demand for
tobacco laborers. Five years earlier, Rolfe had discovered
that sweet West Indian tobacco would grow well in the Vir-
ginia soil. Th e addictive crop was so profi table that soon the
settlers were growing tobacco in the streets of Jamestown.
Men were eager to expand their tobacco production by ac-
quiring workers, but in a place with so few colonists, and so
much land, it was almost impossible to hire a free person
to work for wages. It was just too easy for free individu-
als to acquire their own land and grow tobacco themselves.
Wealthy Virginians fi rst met this challenge by import-
ing white indentured servants from England. In exchange
for passage to Virginia and the basic necessities of life, an
indentured laborer worked for his master or mistress be-
tween three to seven years. Th us, some of the fi rst blacks
brought to Virginia were freed aft er serving a term of years
similar to that of white indentured servants because their
English masters were either uncomfortable with or unsure
about the legality of chattel slavery. Other masters immedi-
ately accepted the idea of permanent slavery and held their
African bondsmen for life.
During the fi rst several decades of the colony’s history,
the number of blacks in Virginia grew very slowly. In 1650,
there were only about 300 blacks, and that number had only
increased to about 2,000 by 1676. Until the last decade of
the 17th century, blacks never made up more than a small
fraction of the total population of Virginia. Th e fi rst black
Virginians were mostly Creoles, individuals born into slav-
ery in other parts of the Americas, such as Brazil or the