Free Republic

Here’s something you won’t read about in the US history books. The first legal slave owner in America was black and he owned white slaves. Anthony Johnson (BC 1600 – 1670) was an Angolan who achieved freedom in the early 17th century Colony of Virginia. Johnson was captured in his native Angola by an enemy tribe and sold to Arab (Muslim) slave traders. He was eventually sold as an indentured servant to a merchant working for the Virginia Company. Sometime after 1635, Antonio and Mary gained their freedom from indenture. Antonio changed his name to Anthony Johnson. In 1651 Anthony...

A parolee who registered voters for the ACORN group in Detroit was bound over for trial Monday on six counts of forging applications for two Jackson women. Antonio Johnson, 23, worked for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now in May and June, shortly after he was released from prison on drunk-driving convictions. Jackson police investigated Johnson after City Clerk Lynn Fessel said her office flagged six voter registration applications for two people who already were registered. Both women testified Monday they did not fill out or sign the forms Johnson submitted, and did not give him permission to...