Anthony Johnson is brought up in line 49 of the passage: "Anthony Johnson, a leader in the community of free African Americans...sold the land he had cultivated for more than twenty years and moved north with his family around 1665, an action that the authors attribute to a search for "fresh, more productive land."
Right after this, the author of the passage CASTS DOUBT on Breen and Innes's interpretation of why Johnson and his family moved north and suggests that it was because they did so because they saw that their white neighbors were transitioning from relying on a largely white indentured labor force to reliance on a largely black slave labor force.
Johnson is therefore brought up to give an example of how Breen and Innes might have misinterpreted certain historical events.
(A) says the author refers to Johnson in order to provide a specific example of the potential shortcomings of Breen and Inne's interpretation of historical events. This is precisely what we identified the author's purpose was in bringing up Johnson, and it's our correct answer.
(B) is incorrect because it says that this is data that Breen and Innes overlooked. However, they did not overlook data about Johnson. In fact, the passage says in lines 53 to 55 that Johnson's move north was "an action that the authors (Breen and Innes) attribute to a search for 'fresh, more productive land.'" Therefore, we can eliminate (B) because it says that Breen and Innes overlooked the data, but they didn't overlook it. They misinterpreted it.
Does this make sense? Let us know if you have any more questions!
