Anthony Johnson’s story is an important part of early colonial history in the United States. Anthony Johnson, originally brought to Virginia as an enslaved person from Angola, became a free Black man after gaining his freedom. In 1651, he was granted 250 acres of land for importing five individuals to Virginia, a process that was part of the headright system, which granted land to those who paid for the transportation of others to the colony.

Johnson’s settlement along the Pungo Teague River in Northampton County is significant because it highlights how, during the early colonial period, Black people could attain freedom and land ownership. However, it is important to note that as time went on, colonial laws and social practices increasingly restricted the rights of Black people, leading to systemic racial discrimination. Johnson’s success was an anomaly in a time when the legal status of Black people in the colonies became more oppressive.