Inheriting the Trade

Thomas DeWolf talked about his book Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History, published by Beacon Press. Thomas DeWolf discovered that he was the descendent of the most successful slave trading dynasty in America. When his ancestor Senator James DeWolf died in 1837 he was reportedly the second-richest man in America. Thomas DeWolf’s cousin, Katrina Browne, produced and directed a documentary feature film, Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North in which she, Mr. DeWolf, and eight other cousins traveled to Bristol, Rhode Island, the home of Senator James DeWolf, and to West Africa and Cuba to confront their family’s past and the history of the slave trade in the North. This memoir recounts their journey. He responded to questions from members of the audience.

Thomas Norman DeWolf served on the Oregon Arts Commission and as a local elected official in Oregon. close