[Republican Wildcat]

There is a stubborn myth in American history that claims Virginia was the first colony to legalize slavery. If not Virginia, then some other southern colony. It was as if the northern colonies were completely untouched by the horrors of owning a person. The first colony to legalize slavery was not Virginia or some other southern colony, but Massachusetts in 1641. Virginia would not legalize slavery for just over two decades after Massachusetts.

The only "stubborn myth" here would appear to be the claim that this is a stubborn myth. Every source you can find on this says it is Massachusetts and 1641 - as far as earliest codification.

The first adjudication in court did occur in Virginia - strangely enough, the first officially declared legal slave owner was himself black.

[DoodleDawg]

The first adjudication in court did occur in Virginia - strangely enough, the first officially declared legal slave owner was himself black.

Actually he was white. A 1640 Virginia court case awarded him a black, runaway, indentured servant service for the man's natural life. The plaintiff's name was Hugh Gwynn. Documented in a January 1898 edition of "Virginia Magazine of History and Biography".