On May 10, 1652, John Johnson, a free Black man in colonial Virginia, was officially granted 550 acres of land in Northampton County. The land was awarded under the “headright” system, which offered land in exchange for transporting laborers—Johnson had imported eleven individuals. His acquisition of land during a time when Black freedom and property rights were rare in English colonies is a striking example of early Black agency in America’s colonial history. Johnson’s story reflects the complex realities of race, labor, and legal status in 17th-century Virginia—decades before slavery was fully codified in law.
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