The Cases of Fernando and Elizabeth Key: A Note on the Status of Blacks in Seventeenth-Century Virginia discusses the two court cases of Fernando and Elizabeth Key. Warren Billings begins by stating Alden T. Vaughn’s note on the Africans who arrived in Virginia between 1619 and 1630 as those who are the origins of chattel slavery and racial prejudice. The two court cases of the blacks reveal how being a Christian in this time can affect your status as a slave and how the Christian black status soon deteriorated.
In August 1667, Fernando went to court and wished to not be held slave anymore as he had converted to a Christian. He brought paper work for proof of his conversion. Unfortunately, the justices dismissed his case and then he appealed
In August 1667, Fernando went to court and wished to not be held slave anymore as he had converted to a Christian. He brought paper work for proof of his conversion. Unfortunately, the justices dismissed his case and then he appealed