The Island That Codified Slavery: Barbados 1661

Barbados did not just grow sugar; in 1661, it wrote a code that turned individuals into residential or commercial property and influenced slave law throughout the British Atlantic. That is the world Washington Black is born into. Our new short explainer introduces the Barbados Slave Code and why historians call Barbados Britain's first servant society. The post connects the legal framework to daily truth in mills, boiling houses, and markets, and touches the Halifax trade routes that linked islands to northern ports. It is a brisk guide for readers who want the history behind the fiction without having to wade through a book.



View the explainer and download the reading list.