Traces of the Trade: A Voyage of Realization and Reconciliation

Join host Sean Dunker-Bendigo, Lynne Morgan, Jen Evans and facilitators Constance and Dain Perry for a screening and discussion of the documentary Traces of the Trade: A Voyage of Realization and Reconciliation. The film traces a journey by Katrina Browne, the filmmaker and nine of her cousins into the slave trade which enriched their white New England family. Dain Perry (one of the nine cousins) and his wife, Constance, will be facilitate our conversation on race, reconciliation and healing following the film.

“Traces of the Trade” is both a geographical and psychological retracing of the industry of the largest slave traders in American history, the DeWolf family of Bristol, Rhode Island. In the 90-minute film, Browne retraces the Triangle Trade from Rhode Island to slave forts in Ghana to sugar plantation ruins in Cuba, uncovering the vast extent of northern complicity in slavery and the legacy of that history in contemporary race relations.

Dain and Constance Perry are experienced facilitators, having conducted over 500 screenings, and facilitated conversations in over 200 cities and towns across the country, and overseas in Ghana and Australia. One family member asked whether Perry, who is a descendant of enslaved people, knew about Dain’s family history before she married him. The answer was "yes." One reviewer of the Perry’s work commented, “By creating an atmosphere of safety and openness, the Perry’s cut through the fears (of judgment, of giving offense, of being misunderstood) that often inhibit discussions of race.”