Traces of Trade: A Story From the Deep North
Do you think the institution of African slavery was concentrated in the southern states of America? Katrina Browne thought so, until she dug a little deeper into her Bristol, Rhode Island "DeWolf" roots. Browne discovered that not only were her early New England ancestors the largest slave trading family in U.S. history, but the DeWolf's peculiar occupation was not an aberration in that part of the country.
The results of her family roots digging is a film that takes her and 9 DeWolf cousins (from the 200 she contacted) on a journey from Rhode Island, Ghana, Cuba and back.
Check out the compelling video clip, from PBS:
Since the DeWolfs are a prominent early New England family, their ancestry has been documented and widely published. But this particular role in American history was not recounted. Most intriguing for family historians is the evidence of the early DeWolf family occupation was hiding in plain sight.