As new Africans arrived they were forced to work for longer periods of time than other indentured servants. Eventually they were ordered to work for their masters for the rest of their lives. By the early 1660s the colonists had put laws in place that legally made the Africans slaves. There were less than 500 slaves in Virginia in 1650, but the numbers would continue to increase as the need for labor to grow tobacco rose. Even though the practice of slavery grew steadily in the colony, not all blacks were slaves.
Records show that free blacks lived in Virginia too.
The free blacks were probably some of the earliest indentured servants who completed their service time and became free after that. Two such people were Anthony Johnson and his wife Mary. They arrived in Virginia in 1621. After they completed their service they purchased some land and began their own tobacco farm.