Primary Sources, Black History

The Gist of Freedom presents~From indentured to Chattel enslavement, volunteer temporary enslavement to forced life time slavery~ One of the places we have the clearest views of that "terrible transformation" is the colony of Virginia. In the early years of the colony, many Africans and poor whites -- most of the laborers came from the English working class -- stood on the same ground. Black and white servants/slaves worked side-by-side in the fields. But in the mid 1600's the laws began to differentiate between races: the association of “servitude for natural life” with people of African descent became common. Re Negro John Punch (1640) was one of the early cases that made a racial distinction among indentured servants.3   In  1640, John Punch, an African indentured servant , is sentenced by a Virginia judge to serve for all his natural life." One of the few recorded histories of an African in America that we can glean from early court records.   Free Blacks- "Antonio the negro," as he was named in th