For too many years scholars of African American history focused on the harm done by slaveholders and by the institution of slavery, rather than on what Africans in the United States were able to accomplish despite the effects of that institution.
Topic
A shift in how historians study African Americans in early colonial Virginia, focusing on the achievements of free African Americans rather than only on the oppression of slavery.
Framework
Old / New (with a little Challenge Position)
Main Point
Recent scholarship, exemplified by Breen and Innes’s Myne Owne Ground, focuses on the agency and accomplishments of free African Americans in early Virginia—though these authors may underplay how mounting legal restrictions and a shift toward slavery already threatened Black freedom before the 1670s.
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P1: Recent Shift in Focus to Black Agency
For a long time, historians mainly talked about the damage caused by slavery, but now scholars like Breen and Innes are focusing more on what Black people in colonial Virginia achieved, especially a group of free African Americans in Northampton County who succeeded in gaining status, property, and social networks, sometimes even rivaling white planters.
P2: Achievements Amid Growing Constraints / Early Legal Changes and Ongoing Threats
Breen and Innes argue that free Black people initially had opportunities to gain property and status, but they may downplay the fact that, as the number of Black residents increased, laws and customs started to restrict them more and more—hinted at by new statutes in the 1660s and the possible real reasons why a leader like Anthony Johnson left Virginia: looming legal threats to Black freedom and prosperity.