Tagged: human trafficing

“‘Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North,’ airing…on PBS’s “P.O.V.” is eye-opening and important, digging deeper than may be comfortable into what stands in the way of race relations. The filmmaker, Browne, is a seventh-generation descendant of Mark Anthony DeWolf, the family’s first slave trader. From 1769 to 1820, the DeWolfs trafficked in human beings. They sailed their ships from Bristol, R.I., to West Africa with rum to trade for African men, women and children. Captives were taken to plantations that the DeWolfs owned in Cuba or were sold at auction in Havana or Charleston, S.C. The proceeds bought sugar and molasses in Cuba, which were shipped to the family-owned rum distilleries in Bristol. Rum traded for slaves, slaves traded for sugar, sugar used to make rum.”

This aired in 2008 and I am just now hearing about it today via Azaelia Banks’s recent reparations “rant” on Twitter. I’ll post about that a little later.  🙂

Source: Joanne Ostrow. “Family’s Slave-Trading Roots Raise Emotional, Disturbing Questions.” The Denver Post. June 20, 2008. http://www.denverpost.com/entertainment/ci_9627138.