Anthony Johnson

As I write this, the date is June 19, 2023. It is a holiday called Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day. Juneteenth celebrates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the United States. The celebration brings to my mind the story of Anthony Johnson.

Anthony Johnson was a slave owner and became a wealthy man by growing tobacco in the colony of Virginia. But here's the twist in the story: Anthony Johnson was a black man, born in Angola and sold into the Atlantic slave trade. He sailed to Virginia in 1621. There were no slavery laws in Virginia until 1661 and so he worked as an indentured servant. He earned his freedom after a number of years of working in the tobacco fields. Typically, an indentured servant worked for four to seven years. (Note: one of my ancestors, a man named William Dawson who was born in England in 1599, came to Virginia as an indentured servant.)

According to Wikipedia, Anthony Johnson 

"...later became a tobacco farmer in Maryland. 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".

You can read about him on Wikipedia here. 

I say, "Good for him." Johnson was obviously intelligent and a hard worker. He probably lived longer and almost certainly gained greater wealth in the Virginia colony than if he had remained in Africa. I am not, of course, implying that his fate justified his capture and servitude. But evil intentions can sometimes produce a good outcome in an unexpected way. I wonder if Anthony Johnson, on his deathbed, would have preferred to have lived his life and died in Africa. The New World, especially in those early days, really was a land of opportunity for those with the courage and strength to seize it.