The Living Consequences

This morning, Traces of the Trade hosted a panel on the legacy of the slave trade at the Sundance Film Festival, keynoted by Congressman John Conyers, chair of the House Judiciary Committee.

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Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North is slated to air later this year on the PBS series, P.O.V. (“Point of View”).

The announcement was made during our panel on public action this morning with Congressman John Conyers.

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This morning brings another outstanding and detailed article on Traces of the Trade at the Sundance Film Festival, this time in the Arizona Daily Star.

This article features Jim Perry, a Tucson resident and direct descendant of James D’Wolf who appears in Traces of the Trade. He’s also my father, so I’m particularly pleased at how well this story turned out.

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I’ll be blogging from the Sundance Film Festival, Jan. 17 – 27, in connection with Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North, which has its world premiere in competition on Jan. 21.

Since I’m appearing in a documentary at Sundance, I’ll be focused on events and developments involving the film. So I don’t generally expect to be blogging about the other films being screened at the festival, nor about the undoubtedly interesting aspects of daily life in Park City, Utah during Sundance.

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The Denver Post has an excellent article this morning on Traces of the Trade and Inheriting the Trade, featuring my distant cousins Keila and Holly, and our friend and colleague Harold Fields.

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Wednesday marked the publication of my cousin Tom’s book, Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History

The launch event was at the Olsson’s Books and Records in Penn Quarter in Washington, D.C. The event, which included an author reading and book signing, drew an overflow crowd of 75 people.

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Yesterday evening, the New Jersey state legislature passed a resolution offering “profound regret” for the state’s role in slavery, and saying that the legislature “apologizes” for the harm caused by slavery and its aftermath in the U.S.

New Jersey thus became the first state north of the Mason-Dixon line to apologize for slavery. In the past year, five other states have offered various forms of apology for slavery, including Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, and Maryland.

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As I’ve noted previously, this year marks the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the U.S. slave trade. Thomas Jefferson’s ban on the slave trade on U.S. ships, and to U.S. ports, took effect on January 1, 1808. And Britain’s own ban, which was enacted mere weeks after Jefferson signed the U.S. prohibition into law, took effect a few months earlier.

Despite the significance of the abolition of the trade—encouraging the movement to abolish slavery itself, restricting the growth of slavery in old and new territories in the U.S., affecting the balance of the U.S. Civil War, and promoting the development of international human rights norms—this historical milestone has been widely celebrated in the U.K., while receiving far less attention here in the U.S.

I’ll be attending one event next week which commemorates the bicentennial: a symposium on “Abolition and the Road to Freedom: the 200th Anniversary of the Slave Trade Act of 1808.” This conference will be held on January 10 at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. (The publication of Tom DeWolf’s book, Inheriting the Trade, has been timed to coincide with the bicentennial and the launch event will take place the evening before.)

There are other events, including workshops for teachers, planned this month. And there will occasionally be other conferences and assorted events throughout the year.

According to an A.P. wire story this morning, the New Jersey state legislature will hold a hearing this week on a resolution which would apologize for New Jersey’s role in slavery.

Update: The resolution passed out of committee today, and is scheduled for a vote by the full Assembly on Monday. The N.J. Senate is not currently scheduled to act on the resolution before the legislative session expires on Tuesday.

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Today, January 1, 2008, marks the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the U.S. slave trade.

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