The Living Consequences

This fall, the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities will sponsor a series of screenings of Traces of the Trade around the state.

The discussion series, “Traces of the Trade: Massachusetts and the Economy of Slavery,” commemorates the bicentennial of the abolition of the slave trade. Each event will feature a screening of the new, 55-minute discussion version of the documentary, along with historical materials and discussion of the film’s themes as well as the significance of slavery to the Massachusetts economy and to our society today. The series is sponsored in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The screenings will take place as follows:

• Sat., Oct. 4, 2008 – Sheffield Historical Society, Sheffield, Mass.
• Tues., Oct. 7, 2008 – Old South Meeting House, Boston, Mass.
• Sat., Oct. 18, 2008 – Alternatives Unlimited, Inc., Whitinsville, Mass.
• Sat., Nov. 8, 2008 – The House of the Seven Gables, Salem, Mass.
• Thurs., Feb. 12, 2009 – New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford, Mass.

The national broadcast premiere of Traces of the Trade on PBS begins this evening at 10:00pm.

Local PBS stations will carry the broadcast on different days and times, so be sure to check your local listings (opens in a new window).

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This morning’s edition of the Boston Globe Magazine contains an interview with Katrina Browne, who directed and produced of Traces of the Trade (with co-directors Alla Kovgan and Jude Ray).

Katrina also has an essay this weekend at The Root, the online magazine devoted to race and to promoting black perspectives in the media, and there are additional reviews and previews of Traces of the Trade in a variety of newspapers.

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We’ve just learned the scheduled broadcast dates for Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North in the Boston area:

• Thursday, June 26, 3:00am (WGBH-44)
• Sunday, June 29, 9:00pm (WGBH-44)
• Monday, June 30, 10:00pm (WGBH-2)

As I’ve mentioned previously, P.O.V. is debuting its 2008-2009 season with Traces of the Trade, with a suggested air date of June 24 at 10:00pm. Local stations are free to broadcast the film whenever they wish, however, and many markets are deviating significantly from that suggestion. It is also possible that these scheduled air dates in Boston might change prior to broadcast.

Update: For those who receive digital broadcasts in the Boston area, the film will also be shown on WGBX World (Channel 44.2) on Wednesday, June 25 at 7:30pm, and will be rebroadcast three times over the course of the next day.

For readers in the Boston area, Tom DeWolf will be appearing at the Harvard Coop tomorrow to promote his book, Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History.

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Tom DeWolf will be bringing his book tour to New England during the next two weeks.

As readers of this blog know, Tom, a distant cousin of mine, has written a memoir entitled Inheriting the Trade: A North Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History. The book chronicles Tom’s journey of self-discovery as a descendant of the D’Wolf family of Bristol, R.I. and parallels the making of Traces of the Trade, the Sundance-nominated documentary which is scheduled to air on PBS in June.

Here is the schedule of Tom’s upcoming appearances in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut:

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