On March 8, 1655, the face of American slavery was given a new precedent in the case of Johnson vs. Parker, recording for the first time the compulsory lifelong servitude of a Negro slave to his master as a result of a civil suit.
John Casor had come to Virginia around 1640, and had indentured himself to a landowner in Northampton County on the Eastern Shore. He served out his indenture, and then later brought suit against his master, Anthony Johnson, for keeping him indentured “seaven yeares longer than hee ought.”
Anthony Johnson had come to Jamestown by way of Point Comfort in 1619 as an indentured servant, by some accounts, completed his indenture in 1623, and eventually acquired and patented 250 acres in Northampton County at the “great Naswattock Creek.” He, his wife Mary, and his children had become upstanding members of the community, and were eventually excused by the court to be excused from paying taxes on account of their “being Inhabitants in Virginia above thirty years.”
Mr. Casor sued Mr. Johnson for freedom, alleging he (Mr. Casor) had shown Mr. Johnson the papers of indenture. While Mr. Johnson denied ever seeing the indenture, Johnson’s neighbors, Robert and George Parker testified that the indenture was evident and valid. According to court records in Northampton, Johnson’s wife and sons persuaded him to set Casor free, upon which the formerly indentured Negro went to live with and work for Robert Parker.
Apparently having a change of heart, Mr. Johnson sued Mr. Parker for detaining his servant, Casor, as Johnson understood “hee had him for his life.” According to Johnson, Parker had acquired the services of Casor under false pretenses, namely that Casor was a free man.
After “seriously consideringe and maturely weighinge the premisses,” the Court in Northampton county found that “the said Mr. Robert Parker most unjustly keepeth the said Negro from Anthony Johnson his master as appeareth by the deposition of Captain Samuel Goldsmith and many probable circumstances.” The court then ordered that “John Casor Negro forthwith returne unto the service of his said master Anthony Johnson, and that mr. Robert Parker make payment of all charge in the suit.”
This shift in the civil recognition and judgment of lifelong compulsory servitude was a thread in long string in the development of the “peculiar institution.” The family of Anthony Johnson would, in a twist of irony, be the victim of this development some 15 years later when “a jury of white men” decided that Johnson’s land should be given to the colony since “he [Anthony Johnson] was a Negroe and by consequence an alien.”
