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

A trailblazing memoir about one family's quest to face its slave-trading past, and an urgent call for reconciliation

In 2001, Thomas DeWolf discovered that he was related to the most successful slave-trading family in U.S. history, responsible for transporting at least ten thousand Africans. This is his memoir of the journey in which ten family members retraced their ancestors' steps through the notorious triangle trade route--from New England to West Africa to Cuba--and uncovered the hidden history of New England and the other northern states.

A difficult but necessary examination of the slave trade, racism, and privilege in the United States, Inheriting the Trade is a powerful call for white America to reassess what they have been taught about their own ancestors, about slavery and wealth, and about America both past and present.

Author: Thomas Norman Dewolf
Publisher: Beacon Press
Published: 01/01/2009
Pages: 280
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.79lbs
Size: 8.70h x 5.40w x 0.80d
ISBN13: 9780807072820
ISBN10: 0807072826
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Slavery
- History | United States | 19th Century
- History | United States | State & Local | New England (CT, MA, ME, NH,

About the Author
Thomas Norman DeWolf is the author of Inheriting the Trade and co-author (with Sharon Leslie Morgan) of Gather at the Table. He is featured in the Emmy-nominated documentary Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and aired on the acclaimed PBS series POV. DeWolf speaks regularly about healing from the legacy of slavery and racism at colleges, conferences, and workshops throughout the United States.