Some days later, Philip asks Wash to accompany him hunting while Titch is busy speaking to Erasmus. Erasmus is thrilled, however, as this likely means that he will get to return to England to run his father’s estate, while Titch will have to run Faith Plantation. He was a scientist working in the Arctic, and Titch (who adored his father) is devastated that his father will never get to see his Cloud-cutter. Titch shows Philip the work he’s been doing on the Cloud-cutter, and one day, the hydrogen that Titch is testing explodes in Wash’s face, leaving him with severe burn scars on the right side of his face.Īfter Wash recovers and Erasmus returns from the other plantation, Philip tells Erasmus and Titch that their father, Mr. Titch also is clearly uncomfortable with the way his brother treats the enslaved people on the plantation, and he tells Wash that he’s an abolitionist.Īlmost a year after Titch’s arrival, his melancholy cousin, Philip, visits while Erasmus is off tending to business on another plantation. Wash particularly likes marine life, and he discovers he has a talent for sketching.

He teaches Wash to read and write and about scientific concepts.

Seeing that Wash is the perfect size to accompany him in the Cloud-cutter, Titch enlists Wash as his manservant. Soon after Erasmus takes over Faith Plantation, his brother Christopher Wilde (nicknamed “ Titch”) arrives to conduct scientific experiments and run test flights for his Cloud-cutter, an air vehicle. However, when other slaves begin to commit suicide, Erasmus vows to decapitate the dead body of any slave who does this so they cannot be reborn, and so Big Kit does not go through with her plan. Big Kit considers killing Wash and herself so they can both be reborn in the African kingdom Dahomey. The only person protecting Wash is Big Kit, an older enslaved woman who works in the cane fields with Wash.

Erasmus is much more brutal to the slaves than Black was: Erasmus beats them, maims them, kills them, and hires cruel overseers to do the same thing.

When the current master, Richard Black, dies, his nephew Erasmus Wilde takes over. George Washington “Wash” Black is an 11-year-old boy who has lived his whole life enslaved on Faith Plantation in Barbados.

Washington Black by Esi Edugyan