Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I have to admit that before this book, I never really thought about the effects that slavery has on our lives today. I always thought about it as this awful thing that happened before I was born. The journey of this family is truly inspiring. It is amazing to read not only the reactions of the family, but also the reactions of others to them. It's intriguing to read about what this family went through and one person's personal journey into a horrific piece of family, and American, history.

One of my favorite parts of this book was just before they were going to Africa and a cousin admited that one of his greatest fears was that it wouldn't come alive for him and his other fear was that it would. This book was that, for me. Through the eyes and words of Thomas DeWolf, it came alive for me. For that, I am grateful.

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.

The virtue of this book for me was that it didn't purport to be objective history; instead, the history of the Northern slave trade was the starting point for this family's, and the author's exploration of privilege and oppression. The author's voice is clear and distinct, and I admired how he was able to weave explanations of the slave trade -- the commerce in human beings -- conducted by Northerners with descriptions of the journey that he and his cousins took to retrace the trade routes, the people they encountered, and the emotional impact the journey had on the family. This book covers issues that most whites prefer to avoid, and it does so in a cogent, readable, and revealing way. I loved how it got me thinking, and opened my eyes in a non-threatening but persistent way to how different kinds of isms -- racism, classism, sexism -- pervade our lives. Simply learning how my assumptions about my freedom differ from a non-white's assumptions has made me aware, on a daily basis, of what benefits I take for granted, and make me think about what we need to do to promote greater, color-blind, access to those benefits.

This book was like a good movie: I finished reading it and I keep thinking about it.

Tom DeWolf has been a leader in his community for many years. Perhaps this is one of the interesting things about INHERITING THE TRADE.

There are insights here. Parallels, if you will. A wealthy, powerful, intelligent family from another era and a unique individual who almost instinctively and unconsciously has performed a sort of redemption for his families past through public service. In my novels I have always been fascinated by what I call the 'genetic memories' of my characters as they play out in their disciplines and actions. This is where I enjoyed most the passages in this historical piece. Looking at the man and the descendants as they are and the family and their circumstances as they were.

It's a good read. Thought provoking.

I looked forward to reading "Inheriting the Trade" by Thomas Norman DeWolf when I first heard it mentioned on National Public Radio. I ordered it with high expectations, (maybe unrealistically high), hoping it would match up favorably to Edward Ball's revelatory "Slaves in the Family."

Sadly, this book under-performs. By his own admission, Thomas Norman DeWolf is no historian. While one need not be a historian to write about this compelling subject, DeWolf frequently presents a cluttered and annoying mix of historical fact with personal opinion. While it is no a crime to interpret history in one's own way, the mush of blended facts and opinion DeWolf presents becomes increasingly frustrating to the careful reader. A trained historian would support his opinions with a critical analysis of facts, building conclusions one brick at a time.

The DeWolf Family of Bristol, Rhode Island is a family of prominence and privilege, with a national reputation.

While most of the "Family of Ten," who travel the historical journey with the author come from the more privileged side of the family, with backgrounds of wealth, status and Ivy-League education, Thomas Norman DeWolf himself comes from the less privileged side of the family. He lives in a county in Oregon with a mimimal percentage of black people, a state with one of the lowest percentages of black people. His presentation of himself is as a man laden with personal guilt for not mixing with black people, for not having had a black person as a business colleague, for not having a black person as a friend, for not understanding black people.

From this perspective, he opines that all whites have "complicity" for what has gone on between the races through decades and centuries of American history. He rails against the founding fathers and he condemns the first five presidents who hail from Virginia (since they were slaveholders for parts of their lives). DeWolf does not present the controversy and struggle to end "the peculiar institution." He does not seem to know much American history. He claims that he and whites generally have "amnesia" about slavery, about the slave trade and about race issues. Where has he been hiding? His high school and university education must have been sorely lacking. Does he not know how many people, black and white, north and south, for decades and centuries worked to end the maritime slave trade, for the abolition of slavery, for equal rights in society? Did he "forget" how many Americans strove to end the practice long before it finally did end?

DeWolf is on much more solid ground when he delves into the history of the 18th and 19th century maritime slave trade and the specific role played by certain DeWolf Family ancestors. These relatives are presented in a well-done genealogical chart at the front of the book which the wise reader will frequently refer back to. These were the ones who were involved in the maritime slave trade when it was still legal and who continued in it after 1808, when it became illegal. The best parts of "Inheriting the Trade" are in this portion of the book and these parts compare with the best historical documentation in "Slaves in the Family." Unfortunately, there is much less here than I would have liked to learn about the DeWolf family members as they continued in the illegal slave trade--such as how they got away with it, who assisted them, identifying complicit political figures who looked the other way or may have been paid-off.

On the Cuban leg of his trip with the "Family of Ten," the family visits a sugar mill museum. Perhaps the most insidious of all the DeWolf ancestors who engaged in the illegal maritime slave trade was the one who established several plantations (coffee and later sugar) after fleeing Rhode Island for Cuba. Again the guilt emotion in the author is paramount: Thomas DeWolf feels "white man's guilt" when he notes the mark of a Buffalo, New York manufacturer on a 19th Century sugar mill press.

DeWolf does understand that slavery was above all, an economic institution. He makes it quite clear that the maritime slave trade was extremely lucrative and that is why the more notorious members of his family continued to engage in it, even after it was made illegal.

A few other points are important to remember: It was Africans who sold other Africans into slavery. Lots of people, not just whites "share the blame" for the slave trade. It is estimated that from 5 to 10 percent of slaves in 18th and 19th century America were owned by black people who could afford them; some of these "black" owners were the mixed-race offspring of black and white people, who understood the peculiar insitution quite well. After all, slavery was above all else, an economic institution.

Many historians believe that that was why it took so long and was so difficult to end. Let's also not forget that it took a four-year long Civil War, an Emancipation Proclamation and three constitutional amendments. Let's also not forget that something pretty close to slavery continues today in the Sudan and that there is effectively, chattel ownership of people from certain tribes in some of the former Portugese colonies in sub-Saharan Africa.

"Inheriting the Trade," is admirable for it its message of compassion. Unfortunately, DeWolf's guilt trip that he wants to lay on the whole of the white race gets in the way of finding effective solutions to problems. America needs to focus on class issues more than race issues. Poverty is much more a function of class and education than it is of race. America is an increasingly diverse country, home to people with origins from all over. Issues like reparations (to whom? from whom?) only serve to drive wedges between people. The past cannot be undone--only the future changed.

It is my pleasure to invite you to read this book. Inheriting the Trade is about Tom's journey with his relatives as they documented the story of their ancestors being the largest group of slave traders in America. Their experience is told in the recently released movie: Traces of the Trade.

This book stopped me in my tracks and invited me to ask questions and see new truths about myself.
It is not just the story of one family, but of an entire world and all of us in it.

Be ready to take your time when you read this and listen to the questions that surface in your heart. Answer them honestly and you will learn about more than slavery in the past, you will discover your own position and how it is influenced by privilege, your own and others still today.

I highly recommend this book.

A view of the slave trade through White eyes. This is a must read for all. For nearly 400 years the ramification of the slave trade, i.e.; cotton, rum, guns, tobacco, and religion, for Africans, for personal greed, has placed this prominent slave trading family in direct conflict with racism in the 21st century.
The expansion of this African Holocaust raises the questions, is racism repairable, do we start from "Just Get Over It", should African Americans assimilate, can White ask for forgiveness, and will Black forgive?
All in all this book is a call to an open forum on racism for all to participate, Black, White, Latinos, Asians, Europeans, male, female, straights, and Gays alike.
Inheriting The Slave Trade just scratches the surface to what holds us all in limbo.