8 MAR--This Day in US Military History

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 12:08:50 -0400

1655 – John Casor becomes the first legally-recognized slave in England’s North American colonies where a crime was not committed.

John Casor (surname also recorded as Cazara and Corsala), a servant in Northampton County in the Virginia Colony, in 1655 became the first person of African descent in Britain’s Thirteen Colonies to be declared as a slave for life as the result of a civil suit.
In one of the earliest freedom suits, Casor argued that he was an indentured servant who had been forced by Johnson to serve past his term; he was freed and went to work for Robert Parker as an indentured servant. Johnson sued Parker for Casor’s services. In ordering Casor returned to his master for life, Anthony Johnson, a free black, the court both declared Casor a slave and sustained the right of free blacks to own slaves.
Slavery law hardened during Casor’s lifetime, though slavery is not considered restricted to people of African descent, as more than 500,000 Irish, as young as 10 years old were enslaved by England from 1610-1843, under the aims of King James I.
In 1662, the Virginia colony passed a law incorporating the principle of partus sequitur ventrem, ruling that children of enslaved mothers would be born into slavery, regardless of their father’s race or status. This was in contradiction to English common law for English subjects, which based a child’s status on that of the father.
In 1699 Virginia passed a law deporting all free blacks.

https://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com/2014/03/08/march-8/

March 8

8 March 1655 – John Casor becomes the first legally-recognized slave in England's North American colonies where a crime was not committed. John Casor (surname also recorded as Cazara and Corsala), ...

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Jun 10 at 2015 5:39 PM

LTC Stephen F. — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 17:39:43 -0400

This is a strange story. I wondered why it was included on "in this day in military history" since I did not find a clear military link within it. I looked for sources to the story on the webpage and then I searched for sources other than Wikipedia.