Katrina Browne
Ms. Browne produced and directed the Emmy-nominated Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North, a documentary about her discovery that her ancestors, the DeWolfs of Rhode Island, were the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history.  The film follows her and nine fellow descendants as they retrace the Triangle Trade, from New England, to Ghana, to Cuba, uncovering the vast extent of the North’s complicity in slavery, and grappling with questions of repair in the present day.  Traces of the Trade premiered at Sundance in 2008, and then aired on PBS’ acclaimed POV series to critical acclaim.  The film has contributed significantly to the growing public awareness in the last fifteen years about the role of the North in slavery and has impacted countless people in thousands of screening events.  Ms. Browne and several other DeWolf descendants still travel extensively with the film as speakers and facilitators, in the U.S. and overseas.  With fellow descendant James DeWolf Perry, Katrina founded the Tracing Center on Histories and Legacies of Slavery to help improve how slavery is taught in schools and interpreted at historic sites and museums.  Traces of the Trade contributed to the Episcopal Church’s 2006 decision to apologize for and address its role in slavery.  Ms. Browne now works as a consultant for the Church as part of their Becoming Beloved Community racial justice and healing initiatives.  She has developed a film-based dialogue series for congregations called Sacred Ground that invites dialogue on race and racism (including whiteness) across political and socioeconomic differences.  Katrina has a Masters in Theology and Ethics from the Pacific School of Religion.  Earlier in her career she co-founded Public Allies, an AmeriCorps program now operating in 24 cities. For a longer bio click here.

Keila DePoorter
Keila and her sister, Holly Fulton, both grew up in Bristol, Rhode Island. Keila has been a dog and horse trainer and has worked at a sheltered workshop for intellectually disabled adults. In 1985 she became a neuro-muscular massage therapist and continued that practice in the Boulder area of Colorado for about 20 years. In 1998 Keila and her husband, Jerry, led a group of 20 university students to South Africa for a month. In their travels, they visited mining sites and studied South Africa’s social, economic and political issues. In spite of mobility issues, Keila was glad to be able to present the film at the Putney School in Vermont and to be part of a number of screenings and talk back sessions in Colorado. She lived in Superior, Colorado. Keila peacefully passed away June 12, 2022.

Tom DeWolf
Thomas Norman DeWolf is an author, public speaker, trainer and workshop facilitator. Since 2013, he has served as executive director for Coming to the Table, which provides leadership, resources, and a supportive environment for all who wish to acknowledge and heal from wounds that are rooted in the United States’ history of slavery. Tom is the author of Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History (Beacon Press, 2008), about his experiences during the family’s journey, co-author, with Sharon Leslie Morgan, of Gather at the Table: The Healing Journey of a Daughter of Slavery and a Son of the Slave Trade (Beacon Press, 2012), which won the Phillis Wheatley Award for best Nonfiction/Biography & Memoir in 2013, and co-author, with Jodie Geddes, of The Little Book of Racial Healing: Coming to the Table for Truth-Telling, Liberation, and Transformation (Good Books, 2019). For further information, visit his website.

Holly Fulton
Holly has been a French & ESL teacher and a diversity trainer in France and in various states. She gives talks and facilitates discussions as outreach for Traces of the Trade, often with her husband, Bill Peebles. She leads workshops that address long-ignored U.S. history and white supremacy awareness. She has regularly attended the White Privilege Conference as both participant and workshop leader and is active in a variety of race dialogue groups in Denver. Holly is also involved in music and theatre arts, her church community, and doing pet care in her home and pet therapy work in health care settings with her Golden Retriever, Jude.

Elly DeWolfe Hale
Elly grew up in Nevada but has lived in Seattle since 1984. After Traces of the Trade, she helped establish a diversity advisory group at her workplace and joined others to form New Legacy Puget Sound, a group dedicated to healing from the wounds left by racism and slavery, through story and personal connection.

Ledlie Laughlin
Ledlie was an Episcopal priest for 60 years, with parishes in Jersey City, Newark, Greenwich Village in New York City, and Florence, Italy. His work was always in the city with concerns for those whose lives were underprivileged and difficult. While Ledlie was dean of the cathedral in Newark, he helped bring about the merger of a small, white cathedral congregation with a large black middle class congregation. Ledlie passed away in January 2019, leaving behind his wife, Roxana, three grown children and their spouses, and seven grandchildren.

Dain Perry
Dain participated in the documentary along with his brother, Jim, and nephew, James. He grew up in Charleston, South Carolina. During the 1970s, he worked for a non-profit agency that promoted reform in the criminal justice system, particularly prison reform. Dain has been a member of his church vestry and has been an active volunteer in his community for many years, including serving on the boards of several nonprofit organizations. Dain and his wife (see below) travel extensively doing screenings of the film at Episcopal parishes.

James DeWolf Perry
In addition to appearing in the film, James served as its principal historical consultant, for which he and the research team were nominated for an Emmy. Since the film’s debut, he has designed and led public programs on racial healing and equity, as well as professional workshops in education and public history. James co-founded the Tracing Center on Histories and Legacies of Slavery, serving as its executive director before stepping down to become a stay-at-home dad. He is the co-editor of Interpreting Slavery at Museums and Historic Sites (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015) and co-author of Interpreting Slavery with Children and Teens (Rowman & Littlefield, forthcoming). James also serves on the board of directors of the Center for Reconciliation in Providence, R.I. James attended Columbia Law School and his graduate work at Harvard University included research into the transatlantic slave trade and its abolition.

Jim DeWolf Perry, V
Jim was born in Providence, Rhode Island and is now retired with his wife, Shirley. In his career, Jim served as a Foreign Service Officer (in Vietnam, Belgium, and Laos), as a manager for several non-profit organizations, and then as a management consultant. Jim was the executive director of the Big Brother Association of Boston when the association shifted to recruiting large numbers of African-American men as big brothers. Today, he is a founding member of Justice Alliance: Indivisible Southern Arizona, and a volunteer and trainer with the Nonviolence Legacy Program in Arizona, teaching Dr. Martin Luther King’s nonviolence that helped propel the Civil Rights movement.

Elizabeth Sturges Llerena
Elizabeth Sturges Llerena is a New York based artist and art educator whose current work aims to heal historic wounds by raising awareness about the present-day impacts of slavery and white privilege. Her work has shown with The Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art (MOCADA) at Deutsche Bank, Longwood Art Center, Linden Place Museum, MAAFA Commemorations at Saint Paul Community Baptist Church in Brooklyn and Bridgewater State University. Elizabeth’s participation in Traces of the Trade informs her work as well as many years of experience as a multi-lingual art teacher in public schools. Her current teaching practice includes restorative justice work with students and staff at her school. She is a member of Coming to the Table and New Sanctuary Coalition.

Juanita Capri Brown
Juanita Capri Brown is the principal of Juanita Capri Brown & Associates, a societal equity consulting practice. As co-producer, she co-designed the Traces journey and facilitated many of the family’s dialogues. Juanita specializes in racial equity, healing and strategic engagement. She supports the public and non-profit sectors, and communities across the nation and internationally to undertake breakthrough dialogues and processes. Her work results in staff, students, parents, educators and executives more productively agitating systems and transforming relationships in their respective contexts. Juanita’s previous work includes project and change management for the East Oakland Building Healthy Communities initiative of The California Endowment, Wells Fargo Services Company, Deloitte Consulting’s public sector practice, and Partners in School Innovation. She received her undergraduate degree from Stanford and then her Master of Public Policy from the Goldman School here at Cal in 2006. A Chicago native, Juanita cherishes her family roots which run deep in the state of Alabama.

Harold Fields
Harold Fields is active in restorative justice and racial reconciliation projects in Denver and around the nation.  He facilitates a citywide monthly racial dialogue that has been continuously active since 1997, the Second Tuesday Race Forum.  He was a founder of Multi-Racial Families of Colorado and was the first training director for Traces of the Trade.  He currently serves on the Board Trustees for The Denver Foundation. In 2017 he was honored by the Colorado ACLU for a lifetime of achievement in advancing civil rights and civil liberties.

Shirley Dunn Perry
Shirley is a poet, artist, and retired registered nurse, who volunteers at Tucson Medical Center teaching art to pediatric patients. She is the author of the book, Love Light and a Dream.

William M. Peebles (Bill)
Bill Peebles is retired clergy and a psychotherapist and is married to Holly Fulton. Together they facilitate talk backs after showing Traces of the Trade. They also facilitate workshops on White Privilege, White Supremacy, and White Fragility to groups in churches and the community. Bill brings theological and faith perspectives to his work with groups, as well as therapeutic sensitivity to assist people dealing with the difficult issue of race today. He is a role model for “old white men” and is both supportive and challenging in his work with them. Bill enjoys traveling to national parks, theater, music, and cooking for family and friends.

Constance R. Perry
Constance is a self-employed national consultant, working in economically disadvantaged communities specializing in workforce and community development, and is a skilled trainer and facilitator. She is an active member of the Episcopal Church and sits on a number of diocesan committees. Although born and raised in Boston, Constance is a descendant of slaves in North Carolina. She and her husband, Dain Perry, work together as a team to bring the film to Episcopal congregations and dioceses, as well as to schools.