Premiere Date: June 24, 2008
Synopsis
First-time filmmaker Katrina Browne makes a troubling discovery — her New England ancestors were the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history. She and nine fellow descendants set off to retrace the Triangle Trade: from their old hometown in Rhode Island to slave forts in Ghana to sugar plantation ruins in Cuba. Step by step, they uncover the vast extent of Northern complicity in slavery while also stumbling through the minefield of contemporary race relations. In this bicentennial year of the U.S. abolition of the slave trade, Traces of the Trade offers powerful new perspectives on the black/white divide. An official selection of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.
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Filmmaker
I was shocked again when I realized that instead of being the exception, the DeWolfe family was just the tip of the iceberg of the vast complicity to slavery in New England.”
— Katrina Browne
View the Film
Film Update
June 24, 2008
Critical Acclaim
A far-reaching personal documentary examination of the slave trade. . . . The implications of the film are devastating.”
— Stephen Holden, The New York Times
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Reviews & Reactions
Average Review
| based on 1 review
powerful and courageous
i will use this film to begin a dialogue with white teachers interested in teaching in urban settings
and among my academic peers to dialogue about how alliances are made and how to move from talk to action. I viewed it as part of a workshop on racism and it helped open up a dialogue about how to facilitate discussions about race across cultures and stay focused.
Inspiring