Annanias Johnson

Annanias Johnson working in a tobacco field

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Quick Facts

Significance:

Annanias Johnson was the first employee at George Washington Birthplace National Monument to talk with visitors about enslavement at Popes Creek Plantation.

Place of Burial:

Westmoreland County, Virginia

Park Superintendent Phillip Hough arrived at George Washington Birthplace National Monument in February 1932, in time for the Bicentennial celebration of George Washington's birth. Soon after his arrival, Hough noticed that visitors to the park were interested in learning more about the subject of slavery. Hough stated, "...it was no secret during the early 1930s that visitors wanted to know about Washington's slaves." In late 1932, Hough met someone who would help him understand more about slavery at Popes Creek, a man named Annanias Johnson. 

Johnson was born between 1850 and 1860, and spent most of his life working the fields of "Wakefield," as both an enslaved person and as a free man. When George Washington was born in 1732, the property was known as "Popes Creek Plantation." In the 1760s, it was renamed "Wakefield."

In 1932, Superintendent Hough hired Johnson to, "tend to the tobacco crop" beginning the following spring. This began a roughly 10-year working relationship between Hough and Johnson. During this period, Johnson, who by then was in his 70s or 80s, would start each workday by walking five miles to the park. He would tend to the tobacco and later, cotton, and ground peas (peanuts) crops, and speak to park visitors about his recollections of being enslaved. At the end of each workday, he would then walk five miles home. 

Johnson claimed to have been born on "Wakefield," and was believed to be the last living "Wakefield" slave. Although Johnson worked at the park during a time of Jim Crow laws in the South and was subjected to the racial biases of the era, from surviving accounts, Johnson enjoyed his time working at the park and meeting people from around the world.

Johnson’s relationship with the park lasted from 1932 until the early 1940s. It is known by May 15, 1947, Annanias Johnson had died. Superintendent Hough lamented his death in his Superintendent’s Monthly Report for that month. In his report, Hough had this to say about Johnson, “Annanias Johnson, the last “Wakefield” slave has passed away. According to the best information he had, underestimated his age by ten years, and was in fact 96 years old. He was born a slave on “Wakefield” farm and worked its acres, most of his life…He worked for the monument from 1932 until 1940 when blindness obliged him to stop.”

Annanias Johnson is buried in Westmoreland County, not far from where he was born, lived, and worked. 

[Information taken from George Washington Birthplace National Monument Administrative History 1930 - 2000 by Seth Bruggeman]