#john punch

[mangapanelswithoutcontext]

[reverseracism]

What's this about Anthony Johnson being the first slaveowner in the U.S.? Because I'm pretty sure John Punch's case predates Johnson. Am I missing something here?

[heytoyourmamanem]

In 1640, three indentured servants-- John Punch, James Gregory and a man named Victor-- attempted to escape from Hugh Gwyn, the Virginia planter to which they were contracted. The men were recaptured and all three sentenced to whippings. Gregory and Victor, both white men, received an additional four years to their indenture. John Punch, a black man (DNA testing of his descendants indicate he was from Cameroon), was condemned to servitude for the rest of his life. Punch is the first known African to be enslaved for life in the American colonies. He is believed to be an ancestor of President Barack Obama and American diplomat Ralph Bunche.

Image: Map that accompanied John Smith's 1624 history of the Virginia colony. (John Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles (London, 1624).  Source: Learn NC

[girlebony]

This Week in Politricks

President Obama related to country’s first enslaved man

So, this, I love. Because one of the common complaints(?) I've seen about Obama is that since his father is from Kenya he's out of touch as a Black man with no slave ancestry.

First of all, that concept is bullshit. And there's something wrong with anyone that thinks you need to be descended directly from Harriet Tubman to understand race relations in this country. The man still lived in America as a Black man.

Second of all, it obviously ignores the fact that the nature of slavery in this country is such that we all pretty much have slave lineage regardless of race.

Mitt Romney Spokesman Tells Reporters 'Kiss My Ass' at Polish Holy Site

Yeeeep.

[blvenight]

"This would mean that the first documented slave and the first African American president have a shared lineage, claim researchers. Said Ancestry.com's genealogist Joseph Shumway, 'John Punch was more than likely the genesis of legalized slavery in America. But after centuries of suffering, the Civil War, and decades of civil rights efforts, his 11th great-grandson became the leader of the free world and the ultimate realization of the American Dream.'"