Traces of the Trade

[Marc]

I was at the premier of this documentary and I hope you will find it as thought provoking as I did. It is about one family's history of their ancestors being slave traders, not just slave owners.


Traces of the Trade: A Story From the Deep North, which airs tonight at 10 on PBS

[JustRob]

Re: Traces of the Trade

Marc,

This was ninety minutes of my life I will never get back. While I appreciated the story of how much of the United States was connected with the slave trade, it was accompanied by gallons of white liberal guilt.

Ironically, this film traded on massive stereotypes of whites, as perpetuated by the whites themselves.

[1stMaine]

Re: Traces of the Trade

Marc,

I simply don't have the time to watch anything produced and/or shown on PBS.

[Rear Rank 2]

Re: Traces of the Trade

Marc,

This was ninety minutes of my life I will never get back. While I appreciated the story of how much of the United States was connected with the slave trade, it was accompanied by gallons of white liberal guilt.

Ironically, this film traded on massive stereotypes of whites, as perpetuated by the whites themselves.

Rob,

Amen, I sat through it and now wounder why.

[Annette Bethke]

Re: Traces of the Trade

I couldn't watch it all. I couldn't stand her monotone voice. It seemed they had some other baggage; it seemed less they were upset about being involved in the slave trade and more that they were Northerns involved in the slave trade.

[JustRob]

Re: Traces of the Trade

It would have been nice to know whether any of their family served in the Civil War.

The discussion of reparations was abhorent. They took pains to mention that their current family's wealth (if any) came from the railroad industry, not slaves. Yet while they lacked the resources to pay reparations, didn't have any problems advocating the payment of reparations by the rest of the country.

I hate folks who won't pay their own way, but are perfectly willing to spend other people's money.

[Marc]

Re: Traces of the Trade

Thanks for the replies....just wanted to know if others had the same feelings about the documentary I did and you did.

It is a strange family and except for the one brother or cousin..all went to Ivy League type schools and appear wealthy enough.