Meet the first real slave owner in Virginia who wasn't a Native-American

Of course slavery had existed here for thousands of years with the American Indian, but in 1654 a man won a court ruling which for the first time established slavery in the Virginia. Anthony Johnson was a black colonist from Angola.

"Slavery was officially established in Virginia in 1654, when Anthony Johnson convinced a court that his servant (also a black man), John Casor, was his for life. Johnson himself had been brought to Virginia some years earlier as an indentured servant (a contracted person who must work from five to seven years for no wages in exchange for food and shelter before being freed) but he had saved enough money to buy out the remainder of his contract and that of his wife. The court ruling in Johnson’s favor resulted in Casor becoming the first state-recognized slave in Virginia. Although it was Anthony Johnson's court case against John Casor that established the legal status of slavery in Virginia, it is difficult to identify him as the 'first' slaveholder in the state as indentured servants were, in effect slaves for the term of their contract. Johnson was the first to hold servants who were legally slaves for life."

Click here for wikipedia article.