Week 2

T- Watch:Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North and Stephanie Smallwood_Saltwater Slavery (Chapters 1-2) copy; review of Smallwood’s Saltwater Slavery.

Saltwater Slavery & “Traces of the Trade”

1. What are your thoughts on Smallwood’s two chapters?
2. What does she mean that the trade “transform[ed] independent beings into human commodities?  How does she describe this process, and how did it operate both off and on the slave ship?
3. How is this story presented in “Traces of the Trade” different than the one you generally learn about slavery and the slave trade?
4. How does the story presented in this film speak to the story Hartman tells, particularly the question of inheritance?

R- Readings: How to End the Slavery Blame-Game – The New York Times; When It Comes to the Slave Trade, All Guilt Is Not Equal; When It Comes to the Slave Trade; How to Apologize for Slavery; Congress Apologizes for Slavery, Jim Crow; Charleston Apologizes for City’s Role in Slave Trade; Charleston’s apology for slavery is just empty symbolism.