January 1639/40 (1640 by modern year numbering)
LegislationBook sources
Virginia excludes Black people from its arms requirement
Colonial Virginia
Virginia’s January 1639/40 assembly required people to be provided with arms and ammunition, with an explicit exception for Black people. Those subject to the requirement could be fined by the governor and council.
Dates preserve the source’s precision. This entry is part of a selected historical record; its qualifications and sources are retained below.
Context / qualification
This brief provision excludes Black people from an obligation to be armed. Its wording does not itself prohibit every Black person from possessing a weapon; the explicit weapons prohibition for enslaved people appears in the later 1680 entry.
Sources
- Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, chapter 2, p. 30; supplied print pages, edition/year unidentified
- Virginia, January 1639/40, Act X; Hening 1:226 ↗