History Lesson 6 — Spoken Word: Written in Chains

Written in Chains is a raw spoken word performance exposing how slavery was legalized on paper long before it was chained in practice. It wasn’t just overseers with whips — it was lawmakers with pens. Every lash, every shackle, every auction block was backed by written codes that turned human beings into property.

Virginia’s slave codes became Carolina’s. Black codes became national law. What began as colonial statutes hardened into the very foundation of America’s economy and government. On ledgers, enslaved Africans were listed as capital; on insurance policies, their deaths were payouts; in courts, their humanity was erased.

This lesson makes one truth undeniable: slavery was not a Southern accident. It was a system designed, legislated, and enforced at every level. Freedom was denied not just by chains of iron, but by chains of ink.