Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History [Hardcover]

Thomas Dewolf (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 2008

In 2001, at forty-seven, Thomas DeWolf was astounded to discover that he was related to the most successful slave-trading family in American history, responsible for transporting at least 10,000 Africans to the Americas. His infamous ancestor, U.S. senator James DeWolf of Bristol, Rhode Island, curried favor with President Thomas Jefferson to continue in the trade after it was outlawed. When James DeWolf died in 1837, he was the second-richest man in America.

When Katrina Browne, Thomas DeWolf's cousin, learned about their family's history, she resolved to confront it head-on, producing and directing a documentary feature film, Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North. The film is an official selection of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

Inheriting the Trade is Tom DeWolf's powerful and disarmingly honest memoir of the journey in which ten family members retraced the steps of their ancestors and uncovered the hidden history of New England and the other northern states.

Their journey through the notorious Triangle Trade-from New England to West Africa to Cuba-proved life-altering, forcing DeWolf to face the horrors of slavery directly for the first time. It also inspired him to contend with the complicated legacy that continues to affect black and white Americans, Africans, and Cubans today.

Inheriting the Trade reveals that the North's involvement in slavery was as common as the South's. Not only were black people enslaved in the North for over two hundred years, but the vast majority of all slave trading in America was done by northerners. Remarkably, half of all North American voyages involved in the slave trade originated in Rhode Island, and all the northern states benefited.

With searing candor, DeWolf tackles both the internal and external challenges of his journey-writing frankly about feelings of shame, white male privilege, the complicity of churches, America's historic amnesia regarding slavery-and our nation's desperate need for healing. An urgent call for meaningful and honest dialogue, Inheriting the Trade illuminates a path toward a more hopeful future and provides a persuasive argument that the legacy of slavery isn't merely a southern issue but an enduring American one.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the summer of 2001, Katrina Browne led nine distant family members on their own triangular passage as she made a documentary film (Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North) about their DeWolf ancestors, the largest slave-trading dynasty in early America—who transported 10,000 Africans to America and the Caribbean between 1769 and 1820. DeWolf, one of Browne's cousins, traces the journey in this soul-searching memoir, beginning in Bristol, R.I., the hub of the late–18th-century trade, and continuing to Ghana, Cuba and back to New England. At each station of the trip, the Family of Ten visits historic sites, and distinguished historians address the group about aspects of the slave trade. DeWolf's account gains immediacy as he reports these presentations and the ensuing group discussions, along with their personal struggles to come to terms with an ignominious family history and his own sharp learning curve. His narrative, however, bogs down toward its conclusion in an irrelevant account of allegations of sexual harassment made against him and a digressive though thought-provoking discussion of reparations for slavery. Nevertheless, DeWolf promotes conversation about truth of the past and its impact on the present.
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Review

"Exploring the links between a grand Rhode Island mansion and dungeons in Ghana, Tom DeWolf traces the infernal trade that gave his family, and this country, great wealth and power. His journey into the past forces painful questions to the surface and illuminates our present."—Henry Wiencek, Winner of the National Book Critics' Circle Award and author of An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America

"Inheriting the Trade is a compelling invitation to explore how our country and many institutions, including churches, benefited from this dark chapter. Such exploration is essential if we are to move forward to a place of repair and racial reconciliation."—Frank T. Griswold, 25th Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church

"Tom DeWolf’s deeply personal story, of his own journey as well as his family’s, is required reading for anyone interested in reconciliation. Healing from our historic wounds, which continue to separate us, requires us to walk this road together."—Myrlie Evers-Williams, civil rights leader, chairman emeritus of the NAACP (1995-98), and author of The Autobiography of Medgar Evers, Watch Me Fly, and For Us the Living

"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

"A candid, powerful, and insightful book about how one family dealt with the infamous slave trade. Jarring in its candor, and revealing in its honest assessment of slavery and the Dewolf family, we must read important books like this if we dare to appreciate every aspect of our history, and as the Dewolf family does, dare to change our judgments about the wretched history of slavery."—Professor Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., Executive Director, The Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Beacon Press; First Edition edition (January 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807072818
• ISBN-13: 978-0807072813
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #579,233 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Thomas Norman DeWolf is an author and public speaker. For information about bringing Tom to your school, conference, or other event contact us through our website (www.inheritingthetrade.com).

Tom is featured in the Emmy-nominated documentary film Traces of the Trade, which premiered on national television on the acclaimed PBS series P.O.V.

His next book, with the working title of Gather at the Table, is being co-authored with Sharon Leslie Morgan. Gather at the Table will be published by Beacon Press in late 2012.

Tom was born in southern California. He high-tailed it to Oregon for college and stayed. Tom served on the Oregon Arts Commission for nine years and as a local elected official for eleven. His years of public service focused on the arts, literacy, children's issues, and restorative justice. Tom is happily married to Lindi. They have four children and six grandchildren.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life-changing for the author, eye-opening for me, March 16, 2008

By 

Momowillie (Kansas, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History (Hardcover)

I thought this book was fascinating. Here's this white guy from Oregon who grew up in a middle-class family in California without much knowledge of his family history. He moves to Oregon, to an affluent, largely white town, where he encounters a distant cousin. Suddenly, he's thrust into a huge extended family with long ties to New England. Slave traders! His forebears were slave traders? Does he want to be in a documentary about the slave trade? Does he want to go to Rhode Island, Ghana, and Cuba to retrace the route of the triangle trade?* He does, and in the process his eyes are opened to places and ways of living he knew nothing about - and this includes not only the African and Cuban cultures but also that of privileged New Englanders. What an amazing set of events!

The author weaves together his own deep changes with description and reflection on the history of the slave trade and its continuing impact on our still racist society. The big idea is that white people in America are largely unaware of our own unearned privilege, and that becoming aware is one step in beginning the change to erasing racism. This book shows that it's a one-person-at-a-time effort, difficult but not impossible.

*Traces of the Trade, by Katrina Browne, Thomas DeWolf's 7th cousin once removed, if I read the genealogical chart correctly.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For me the truth lies somewhere in between., March 20, 2009

By 

Paul Tognetti "The real world is so much more... (Cranston, RI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History (Paperback)

Most people who have taken the time to review Thomas DeWolf's "Inheriting The Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave Trading Dynasty in U.S. History" give this book extremely high marks. Reviewer Linda Pagliuco begs to differ. She deemed the book worthy of a mere two stars and opined that the book "reminds me of those self-indulgent, melodramatic "encounter groups" that were so popular in the 1970's. Let's beat up on each other for things we never did, just for being who we are." This is a fair point but I cannot dismiss this story altogether. Rather, I applaud the DeWolf family for participating in this ambitious project with the goal of discovering for themselves the horrible truths surrounding how the family fortune was made. In documenting the group's emotional journey from Bristol RI to West Africa and then back to Cuba, Thomas Dewolf offers his readers unique insights into how the nasty business of the Triangle Trade was conducted. Even though I have read a couple of other books on the slave trade I found that "Inheriting The Trade" presents this sordid tale of human misery from a very intimate perspective that I simply have not found anywhere else.
They called themselves the "Family of Ten". The members of the DeWolf family who participated in this project hailed from points all over the nation. Author Thomas Dewolf resides in Bend, OR and had never met any of the family members before. The group met for the very first time in Bristol, RI in July 2001 at the behest of Katrina Browne and over the next several weeks would embark on an adventure that would change them all forever. One of the objectives of the project was to produce a documentary film about the experience they were all about to share. Over the next few weeks the group would retrace the exact path of the Triangle Trade. Being a native Rhode Islander I was stunned to learn that more than half of all the slave trade voyages made from North America during this period originated from our tiny state. The book chronicles the group's trip to Ghana on the west coast of Africa where the slave trade thrived for so many years. The description of the conditions that these African men and women were forced to endure while waiting to be transported to Cuba and other destinations in the West can only be described as heartbreaking. Meanwhile, the same can be said for the deplorable conditions on the ships as well. While there was a pretty significant mortality rate amongst both the slaves and the ships crews it is truly amazing that more people did not die on these voyages. From Ghana the group moved on to the island of Cuba where they visited the locations of some of the DeWolf family plantations. Not much remains but all found it to be a very emotional experience.
Although it took several years to complete the documentary film "Traces of the Trade: A Story From The Deep North" was finally released in 2006. Although I have not yet seen it myself I have been told that it a very powerful film.
At the end of the day I thought that on balance "Inheriting The Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy As The largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History" was a very worthwhile project. Perhaps because I hail from the Ocean State this one managed to hold my attention most of the time. But like reviewer Linda Pagliuco I could have done with a bit less of the group therapy. The story of the slave trade is powerful enough in its own right. If you know little or nothing about the topic at hand then "Inheriting The Trade" would not be a bad place to start.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Your Ordinary Ancestors, February 13, 2008

By 

E. Perkins - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History (Hardcover)

Many middle-aged people and those older get an urge to find out more about their parents, grandparents, and other ancestors. For most of those amateur genealogists, a little knowledge is enough. They're satisfied with collecting information about names, places, and dates of their ancestors' births, marriages, and deaths. Some family researchers delve deeper. Occasionally one even writes a book about his discoveries. Usually the books are ho-hummers interesting only to family members. Tom Dewolf got the genealogy bug and wrote a book but his "Inheriting the Trade" is far better than the usual. It's captivating. Part is due to DeWolf's collateral ancestors having been in the African-American slave trade, part is because DeWolf's done his research, and part is because he tells a good story. The tale starts out with DeWolf meeting cousins at a family reunion in Rhode Island. Soon we learn that they have slave trade ancestors and quickly James DeWolf, "a true scoundrel in every way," is mentioned. "He was a slave trader, rum runner, and privateer," says one cousin. Other DeWolfs are named and discussed. Then, with Tom's interest whetted and ours, too, DeWolf is off to find out more and tell us about his investigations of the mottled sheep in his past. "Inheriting the Trade" is a book worth buying and reading.