John Punch

John Punch was a servant of Virginia planter Hugh Gwyn, a wealthy landowner, a justice, and a member of the House of Burgesses, representing Charles River County. In 1640, Punch ran away to Maryland with two of Gwyn's European indentured servants. All three were caught and returned to Virginia. On July 9th, the Virginia Governor's Council, which served as the colony's highest court, sentenced both Europeans to have their terms of indenture extended by another four years each. However, the Council sentenced Punch to serve for the remainder of his life. In addition, the council sentenced the three men to thirty lashes each.

This court decision played an important significance in the establishment of a legal acceptance for slavery. This case is the first legal sanctioning of lifelong slavery and the first legal distinction between Europeans and Africans made in the colonies. This made it a key milestone in the development of the institution of slavery in the United States. For this reason, John Punch is considered the first official slave in the English colonies.

In July 2012, Ancestry.com published a paper suggesting that John Punch was a twelfth-generation grandfather of President Barack Obama on his mother's side, on the basis of historic and genealogical research and Y-DNA analysis. Punch's descendants were known by the Bunch or Bunche surname. Punch is believed to be one of the paternal ancestors of Ralph Bunche, the first African American to win the Nobel Peace Prize.