Feb 9, 2019
American roots of slavery
I learned something e❌ploring Wikipedia today.
John Punch was an enslaved African man who lived in (what is now) Virginia in the 17th century. He escaped, was recaptured, and was sentenced to be a slave for the rest of his life. 2 white men who escaped with Punch only had their terms of indenture lengthened. Punch’s case established him as the 1st official slave in the colonies, legally sanctioning slavery and codifying legal distinctions between Europeans and Africans. It also establishes, I think, that the various justifications given for slavery were always disingenuous bullshit. Slavery’s first use here was as a punishment. That’s illuminating.
