Trade and Guilt: In the Heat of the Moment

I found this film to be particularly interesting in that it showed an alternate perspective on the history of slavery. Between the DeWolfs and the African Americans taking part in the 'journey to the past', there appeared a very interesting juxtaposition. With each group going through the journey of where their ancestors had once been, there is a great deal of emotion and passion on each end. The DeWolfs struggle through the journey with the knowledge of their ancestors participating in illegal slave trading while the African Americans struggle through the journey with the knowledge of their ancestors being traded. The film shows the growing struggle of the DeWolf family members as they move from the DeWolf home in Bristol, Rhode Island onwards to Africa and then to Cuba. I think in this case, it was important for some of the family members to actually see some of the places in which their ancestors had held and transported slaves. I think it is important not because it was their own ancestors that did the actual slave trading, but because some of the family members still held subconsciously racist views of the slave trade. One family member stated that he did not feel guilty about the slave trade and what was going on with the people. However, later on in the trip, after having experienced the anguish of the people of Africa, he stated that he did feel guilty. I found this to be interesting because I think the idea is not for him to feel guilty in regards to his own ancestors being responsible for so many African slaves being traded, but for the concept of guilt in the sense that this did happen, no matter who it was that was participating in these activities in the first place. This somewhat ties into Annette Wieviorka's arguments concerning testimony. When the family members from the DeWolfs were confronted in the discussion group, there evolved a great deal of discomfort, whereas, previously, when in their natural element, in Bristol, there was little.