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John Punch (fl. 1630s, living 1640) was an African slave who lived in the Colony of Virginia during the seventeenth century. In July 1640, the Virginia Governor's Council sentenced him to serve for the remainder of his life as punishment for running away to Maryland. In contrast, two European men who ran away with him were sentenced to longer indentures but not the permanent loss of their freedom. For this reason, historians consider John Punch the "first official slave in the English colonies," and his case as the "first legal sanctioning of lifelong slavery in the Chesapeake."〔 Historians also consider this to be one of the first legal distinctions between Europeans and Africans made in the colony, and a key milestone in the development of the institution of slavery in the United States.〔Paul Finkelman (1985). ''(Slavery in the Courtroom: An Annotated Bibliography of American Cases ) ''(Library of Congress). p. 3〕 In July 2012, Ancestry.com published a paper suggesting that John Punch was an eleventh-generation grandfather of Barack Obama on his mother's side, on the basis of historic and genealogical research and Y-DNA analysis.〔("Ancestry.com Discovers Ph Suggests" ), ''The New York Times''. July 30, 2012.〕〔Plante, Bill (Obama Related to First Documented Slave in America" ), Ancestry.com. July 30, 2012.〕〔Stolberg, Sheryl Gay ("Obama Has Ties to Slavery Not by His Father but His Mother, Research-in-obamas-family-tree/ "Surprising link found in Obama's family tree" ), CBS News. July 30, 2012.〕 Punch's descendants were known by the Bunch or Bunche surname. Punch is believed to be one of the ancestors of the 20th-century American diplomat Ralph Bunche, the first African American to win the Nobel Peace Prize.〔(Paul Heinegg, "Bunch Family" ), ''Free African Americans in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware'', 1995-2000. Note: Heinegg believes that Bunche was descended from Bunch ancestors established as free blacks in Virginia before the American Revolution. There were men of the Bunch surname in South Carolina by the end of the 18th century. Quote: "Others (Bunch Family ) in South Carolina i. Lovet, head of a South Orangeburg District household of 8 "other free" in 1790 (). He lived for a while in Robeson County, North Carolina, since "Lovec Bunches old field" was mentioned in the 1 March 1811 will of John Hammons (1:125 ). ii. Gib., a taxable "free negro" in the District between Broad and Catawba River, South Carolina, in 1784 (Carolina Tax List 1783-1800, frame 37 ). iii. Paul2, head of a Union District, South Carolina household of 6 "other free" in 1800 (). iv. Henry4, head of a Newberry District, South Carolina household of 2 "other free" in 1800 (). v. Ralph J., Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1950, probably descended from the South Carolina branch of the family, but this has not been proved. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, on 7 August 1904, son of Fred and Olive Bunche. The 1900 and 1910 census for Detroit lists several members of the Bunch family who were born in South Carolina, but Fred Bunch was not among them."〕 ==Context== Africans were first brought to Jamestown and Virginia in 1619. However, their status as slaves or indentured servants remains unclear. Philip S. Foner pointed out the differing perceptions held by historians saying, Some historians believe that slavery may have existed from the very first arrival of the Negro in 1619, but others are of the opinion that the institution did not develop until the 1660s and that the status of the Negro until then was that of an indentured servant. Still others believe that the evidence is too sketchy to permit any definite conclusion either way. Historian Alden T. Vaughan also recognizes differing opinions over when the institution of slavery started, but he says that most scholars agree that there existed both free blacks and enslaved blacks by 1640. He notes, "On the first point--the status of blacks before the passage of the slave laws--the issue is not whether some were free or some were slave. Almost everyone acknowledges the existence of both categories by the 1640s, if not from the beginning." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「John Punch (slave)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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