Slavery in Rhode Island?

Bristol, RI calls itself “the most patriotic town in America” because it hosts the oldest continuous Independence Day celebration in the nation.  Earlier this month, the law school brought the community together to learn more about another, less appealing aspect of Bristol….its integral role in the slave trade.

The law school hosted a screening of Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North.  This documentary tells the story of the DeWolf family of Bristol RI, at one time the largest slave trading family in U.S.  It was standing room only, as over 300 people came to learn more about this unfortunate chapter in Rhode Island history.  The film brought viewers face to face to face with DeWolf descendants as they retraced the Triangle Trade: the intricate and highly profitable enterprise of sailing to Africa with rum, which was traded for human beings, who were then shipped via the “Middle Passage” to the Caribbean and the US South, where the DeWolf’s (and others) were paid royally for the human cargo that survived the brutal journey; the traders then used some of the profit to buy sugar cane to be made into rum back in RI.  The movie looked at old buildings and documents in Bristol, slave trading markets in Ghana, and the ruins of a DeWolf plantation in Cuba.  More poignantly, the film also followed the family as they struggled with how to think about their family’s role in slavery and how to move forward despite this heavy burden. 

After the film, audience members engaged in a candid discussion with the film’s producer/director Katrina Brown (pictured above in front of a DeWolf family home) and several other DeWolf family members.  For many in the audience, it was the first opportunity to reflect on Bristol’s role in that ugly chapter of American history. 

This event was co-sponsored with the Rhode Island for Community & Justice, the Bristol Historical & Preservation Society, and Linden Place (the museum that was a former DeWolf home).