History is messy. It isn't just a collection of dates in a dusty textbook that you memorized in third grade and promptly forgot. It’s alive. It lives in our bank accounts, our family trees, and the literal architecture of the cities we walk through every day. That is the gut-punch realization at the heart of the Traces of the Trade movie, a documentary that doesn't just ask us to look at the past, but demands we acknowledge how we are currently standing on top of it.
If you haven't seen it, the film follows Katrina Browne. She’s a descendant of the DeWolf family. On paper, they were just another prominent New England family. In reality? They were the most successful slave-trading dynasty in United States history.
Browne discovered this family secret and didn't just write a polite letter about it. She gathered nine of her cousins and retraced the Triangle Trade route—from Rhode Island to Ghana to Cuba. It sounds like a heritage tour. It isn't. It is a slow-motion collision with reality.
The Myth of Northern Innocence
Most of us were taught a very specific version of the American Civil War. The South was the "bad guy" with the plantations, and the North was the "good guy" with the factories and the abolitionists. This movie sets that narrative on fire.
The DeWolfs lived in Bristol, Rhode Island. They weren't Southern planters; they were Northern entrepreneurs. They owned the ships. They owned the distilleries that turned molasses into rum to trade for human beings. They owned the insurance companies that protected those ships. Basically, the entire economy of the North was lubricated by the slave trade. When you watch the Traces of the Trade movie, you see the descendants walking through Bristol and realizing that the very "quaintness" of their hometown was paid for in blood.
It’s uncomfortable. It’s supposed to be.
The film does a great job of showing how the DeWolfs weren't just one "bad" family. They were part of a systemic machine. They brought over 10,000 enslaved Africans to the Americas. Think about that number for a second. Ten thousand people. That’s a small city. Their impact on the genetic and social makeup of this country is staggering.
Why This Isn't Just a "History" Doc
A lot of people check out when they hear "documentary about slavery." They think they’ve seen it all before. They think it's about guilt.
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Honestly, that’s where this film is different. It’s about the psychology of the descendants. Watching these nine cousins interact is like watching a live-action therapy session for a nation that doesn't want to talk about its trauma. You have some cousins who are deeply repentant, others who are defensive, and some who just seem confused.
It’s raw.
One cousin, Tom DeWolf, later wrote a book called Inheriting the Trade because the experience changed him so much. He didn't just want to feel bad; he wanted to understand how his current life—his education, his safety, his social standing—was built on the foundation laid by James DeWolf and his brothers.
The Ghana Connection
When the film moves to Africa, the tone shifts. The descendants visit the slave dungeons at Cape Coast Castle. If you’ve never seen footage of these places, it’s haunting. The walls are stained. The air feels heavy.
The film doesn't shy away from the complexity of the African involvement in the trade either. It acknowledges that it was a global web of complicity. But it keeps the focus on the American responsibility. Why? Because that’s who we are.
Watching white Americans stand in a dungeon where their ancestors held people captive is one of the most intense things you'll ever see on film. There are no easy answers provided. No one gets a "gold star" for visiting. It’s just a heavy, silent acknowledgement of what happened.
The Economic Reality Most People Miss
People love to say, "I didn't own slaves, so why does it matter?"
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The Traces of the Trade movie answers that by following the money. The DeWolf family used their profits to build banks. They built textile mills. Those mills processed cotton from the South. The North and South were two halves of the same coin.
When you look at the wealth gap in 2026, you can't ignore the head start that families like the DeWolfs had. They had 200 years of compounding interest on capital built from free labor. It’s not just about "privilege" in a vague, social media sense. It’s about actual, literal capital.
What People Get Wrong About the Film
Some critics at the time—and even now—argue that the film focuses too much on the white experience. That’s a fair critique. It is a movie about white people looking at their own history.
But I’d argue that’s exactly why it’s useful.
White people often don't talk to each other about this stuff. We wait for people of color to bring it up, which puts the emotional labor on them. Katrina Browne decided to do the labor herself. She forced her family to sit at the table and look at the ledgers. She forced them to talk about the "hidden" history that was hiding in plain sight.
It’s also not a "white savior" movie. Nobody "saves" anyone in this documentary. There’s no happy ending where racism is solved because a few people went on a trip. If anything, the ending is a bit of a cliffhanger. It leaves you wondering: "Okay, now that I know this... what do I actually do?"
The Lasting Legacy of the DeWolf Legacy
Since the film came out in 2008 (premiering at Sundance), it has become a staple in classrooms and diversity training. But it’s more than a teaching tool. It’s a blueprint for how to handle uncomfortable family history.
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We live in an era where people are terrified of being "canceled" for the past. This movie shows a different way. It shows that you can acknowledge the horror of your ancestors without losing your own soul. In fact, acknowledging it is the only way to keep your soul.
The DeWolf family didn't disappear. They are still around. Some are still wealthy; some aren't. But they all carry that name.
Actionable Steps for the Curious
If you've watched the Traces of the Trade movie and feel that "now what?" sensation, here is how you actually process it.
Dig into your own geography. Use the Slave Voyages Database. It’s an incredible, sobering resource. Look up your town. Look up the companies that built your city. You might be surprised to find which insurance companies or banks have roots in the 18th-century trade.
Read the companion books. Tom DeWolf’s Inheriting the Trade gives a much more detailed look at the internal family dynamics that the film couldn't fit into its runtime. It’s a great deep dive into the "how" of reconciliation.
Check out the Tracing Center. After the film, the filmmakers founded The Tracing Center on Histories and Legacies of Slavery. They provide resources for educators and genealogists who want to do this work.
Host a screening. This isn't a movie to watch alone and then go play video games. It’s a movie that requires a conversation. If you’re part of a community group or a church, watch it together. The "magic" happens in the awkward silence afterward when people finally start talking.
The Traces of the Trade movie isn't a comfortable watch. It’s not meant to be. But in a world that is increasingly polarized, it’s one of the few pieces of media that actually tries to bridge the gap between our myths and our reality. It reminds us that we can't move forward if we're still pretending we didn't come from where we came from.