Colby-Sawyer College to Present Documentary “Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North”

NEW LONDON, N.H. – Colby-Sawyer College will present the documentary “Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North,” as part of its Human Rights and Social Justice Film Series.

The film will be shown Tuesday, Sept. 23, at 7 p.m. in Clements Hall in the Curtis L. Ivey Science Center. Community members are invited to attend and admission is free.

In “Traces of the Trade,” Producer/Director Katrina Browne tells the story of her forefathers, the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history. Viewers may be surprised to learn that Browne's ancestors, the DeWolfs, were Northerners. The film follows Browne and nine family members on a remarkable journey which brings them face-to-face with New England's hidden history and its legacy of deep involvement in slavery.

The issues with which the Browne family is confronted dramatize questions that apply to the nation as a whole: What is the legacy of slavery — for diverse whites, for diverse blacks, for diverse others in our country? In what ways do we inherit our nation's history as individuals and as citizens? How does Northern complicity change the equation? What kinds of reparations — spiritual and material — might be necessary and feasible, and what forms would they take?

These are the issues that arise as the descendants of the slave-owning DeWolfs discover the details of how, for over fifty years, DeWolf fathers, sons and grandsons trafficked in human beings, and rose to power and great wealth.

To learn more, visit the film's web site.

Find out about more Colby-Sawyer College events open to the public here.