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Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-TradingDynasty in U.S. History
Inheriting the Trade A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest SlaveTradingDynasty in US History Author:Thomas Norman DeWolf A trailblazing memoir about one family's quest to face its slave-trading past, and an urgent call for reconciliation — In 2001, Thomas DeWolf discovered that he was related to the most successful slave-trading family in United States history, responsible for transporting at least 10,000 Africans. His ancestor, U.S. senator James DeWolf of Bristol... more », Rhode Island, continued in the trade after it was outlawed, dying the second-richest man in America in 1837.
Thomas DeWolf's cousin Katrina Browne produced and directed the documentary Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North, which follows her, Thomas, and eight other family members as they retrace their ancestors' steps through the notorious triangle trade route?from New England to West Africa to Cuba. The film premiered in the documentary competition of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, and Inheriting the Trade is Thomas's powerful memoir of their life-altering journey.
"DeWolf's intimate confrontation with white America's 'unearned privilege' sears the conscience."
?Kirkus Reviews
"This soul-searching memoir . . . promotes conversation about 'truth of the past and its impact on the present.'"
?Publishers Weekly
"Required reading for anyone interested in reconciliation."
?Myrlie Evers-Williams, civil rights leader and author of The Autobiography of Medgar Evers
"Inheriting the Trade is like a slow motion mash up, a first-person view from within one of the country's founding families as it splinters, then puts itself back together again."
?Edward Ball, author of Slaves in the Family« less