BBC Teach -The Barbados Slave Code

BBC Teach Class Clips-History KS3 / KS4: The Barbados Slave Code - Worksheet to support the Olusoga extract

Historian David Olusoga investigates the spread of the Barbados Slave Code across British colonies during the eighteenth century and its social and economic impact.

He begins his narrative with the English settlement of Barbados in 1627 which resulted decades later in a lucrative sugar cane industry covering 40% of the island and cultivated by enslaved Africans.

The clip emphasises the harsh and racist provisions of the code and its role in creating a slave society and economy controlled by the use of severe violence.
British records quote Africans as being referred to as ‘heathenish’ and ‘brutal’.

This is from the series: Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners

This resource is written in Publisher and formatted to A3 but can be saved as a PDF for A4 printing