Along with most colonies of the British Empire, all slaves in Antigua were emancipated in 1833, but remained economically dependent upon the island’s white plantation owners. Economic opportunities for the freed population were limited by a lack of surplus farming land, no access to credit and an economy built on agriculture rather than manufacturing. Poor labour conditions persisted until 1939 when a member of a British Crown commission urged the formation of a trade union movement.

The Antigua Trades and Labour Union, formed shortly afterward, became the political vehicle for Sir Vere Cornwall Bird, who became the union’s president in 1943. The Antigua Labour Party (ALP), formed by Bird and other trade unionists, first ran candidates in the 1946 elections and became the majority party in 1951, beginning a long history of electoral victories.Voted out of office in the 1971 general elections that swept the progressive labour movement into power, Bird and the ALP returned to office in 1976.

Until 1958, Antigua and Barbuda were part of the British Leeward Islands. From 1958 to 1962, Antigua and Barbuda were part of the West Indies Federation.

The history of Antigua’s Carnival begins in the 1800s with the abolition of slavery.On August 1, 1834, enslaved Africans were emancipated in Antigua and other British colonies, per the Slavery Abolition Act 1833.

The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 (3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 73) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which abolished slavery in the British Empire by way of compensated emancipation.The act was legislated by Whig Prime MinisterCharles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey’s reforming administration, and it was enacted by ordering the British government to purchase the freedom of all slaves in the British Empire, and by outlawing the further practice of slavery in the British Empire.

However it was not until 1937 that the trade of slaves was abolished throughout the entirety of the British Empire, with Nigeria and Bahrain being the last British territories to abolish slavery.

The act was technically repealed in 1998 as part of a restructuring of the entirety of English statute law, though slavery remains abolished.

On that day, Antiguans took to the streets to celebrate their freedom and express their joy.Antigua was the only British colony in the Caribbean where the enslaved population was freed unconditionally, as opposed to via indentured servitude.Over the years there was a return to this informal celebration of emancipation. Antiguans celebrated August 1st with picnics, family reunions, and other small celebrations.Today’s Carnival is a formal, island-wide celebration of emancipation.