Myne Own Ground
Myne Owne Ground
The 17th century was an important time period as the New World continued to develop into a society run by English settlers. The book, Myne Owne Ground, by Timothy Breen, focuses on the colonial history of the 1600’s. However, what is discussed in the book does not detail what was accomplished in this time period. Rather, Breen pinpoints the classes of people such as slaves, indentured servants, and free blacks; how they came to become part of those groups and when racism first started. For decades, not all blacks were slaves and servants. Some blacks were free men in the New World. That would only become a short memory, though, as the idea of being non-white turned into the biggest embarrassment in American history; slavery.
Historians make everything interesting. One would think that racism started when the first black people came to Virginia. And from then on, all English setters in the New World automatically loathed blacks because they were ‘different.’ But of course, a historian comes in and makes us all look dumb. Myne Owne Ground particularly focuses on one free black man named Anthony Johnson, also known when he came to America as ‘Antonio a negro.’ His story reshaped what historians originally thought about early colonial history.
Anthony arrived in Virginia in 1621 and was stationed to work in the Bennett plantation to work in the tobacco fields as a slave. After a year of this new life, the Indians (you know, the people who are still mad about this whole colonial settlement going on) decided to attack and kill over 350 colonists, 52 of those people being part of the Bennett plantation. Anthony was one of the rare survivors.
Breen notes that from 1625-1650, Anthony’s life becomes somewhat of a mystery because of lost or unrecorded events. Historians do not know how he became Anthony Johnson (back then, blacks were not even given surnames). However, the puzzle of those missing 25 years can start to be solved in 1625 when Anthony met
The 17th century was an important time period as the New World continued to develop into a society run by English settlers. The book, Myne Owne Ground, by Timothy Breen, focuses on the colonial history of the 1600’s. However, what is discussed in the book does not detail what was accomplished in this time period. Rather, Breen pinpoints the classes of people such as slaves, indentured servants, and free blacks; how they came to become part of those groups and when racism first started. For decades, not all blacks were slaves and servants. Some blacks were free men in the New World. That would only become a short memory, though, as the idea of being non-white turned into the biggest embarrassment in American history; slavery.
Historians make everything interesting. One would think that racism started when the first black people came to Virginia. And from then on, all English setters in the New World automatically loathed blacks because they were ‘different.’ But of course, a historian comes in and makes us all look dumb. Myne Owne Ground particularly focuses on one free black man named Anthony Johnson, also known when he came to America as ‘Antonio a negro.’ His story reshaped what historians originally thought about early colonial history.
Anthony arrived in Virginia in 1621 and was stationed to work in the Bennett plantation to work in the tobacco fields as a slave. After a year of this new life, the Indians (you know, the people who are still mad about this whole colonial settlement going on) decided to attack and kill over 350 colonists, 52 of those people being part of the Bennett plantation. Anthony was one of the rare survivors.
Breen notes that from 1625-1650, Anthony’s life becomes somewhat of a mystery because of lost or unrecorded events. Historians do not know how he became Anthony Johnson (back then, blacks were not even given surnames). However, the puzzle of those missing 25 years can start to be solved in 1625 when Anthony met