Professor Henry Louis (“Skip”) Gates, Jr. has an op-ed in this morning’s New York Times in which he takes on the issue of reparations for slavery.

Gates will, no doubt, attract enough controversy for his general approach to the issue. He is convinced that our society must address the issue of reparations, and that we must reach a “just and lasting agreement,” which he believes will have to be “a judicious (if symbolic) gesture to match such a sustained, heinous crime.”

Remarks like these will land any public intellectual in the U.S. in hot water these days. Just consider the case of Goodwin Liu, whose mild remarks related to reparations at one of our events in 2008 became a central issue in his nomination by President Obama for a seat on the Ninth Circuit.

However, this essay is most notable for telling difficult truths about the central role of Africans in the transatlantic slave trade, and thus about the shared culpability of people of different races in the resulting history of slavery.

What is unusual about this essay is not the historical facts which Gates relates about Africa’s role in the slave trade, or even the interpretation which he gives them. These are commonplace observations in the study of the slave trade, and are necessary to the most basic understanding of that historical phenomenon and its legacy today.

This essay is noteworthy because someone of Gates’ stature is telling these hard truths, and insisting that they are necessary to assessing responsibility for the past and for healing these historical wounds today.

Slavery was not about race

When I address audiences on the history and legacy of slavery, I will often say that slavery and the slave trade were never about race. Having offered that hopefully surprising statement, I will explain that while the concept of race gradually became important in justifying and perpetuating slavery in the United States, race played essentially no part in establishing the transatlantic slave trade or in bringing millions of Africans to the Americas.

This argument has two parts: first, that Europeans (and Americans) did not engage in the slave trade out of any sense that it was particularly appropriate to enslave black people, and second, that Africans were full partners in the slave trade, without any sense on their part, either, that race was relevant to what they were doing.

Gates addresses the second part of this argument, summing up by saying that “white people and black people, on both sides of the Atlantic, [were] complicit alike in one of the greatest evils in the history of civilization.”

The historical truth about Africa and the slave trade

When we visited slave forts along the African coast in modern-day Ghana to film Traces of the Trade, we were walking in the footsteps of my ancestor, James DeWolf, and the other members of the DeWolf family who purchased more than 12,000 Africans in such slave forts.

As Gates asks, “How did slaves make it to these coastal forts?”

The reality is that nearly all who were sent across the Atlantic in chains were enslaved by Africans.

Gates cites two leading historians of the slave trade, John Thornton and Linda Heywood of Boston University, for the proposition that roughly 90% of the slaves sent across the Middle Passage were enslaved by African traders and then sold to Europeans along the coast. Other leading scholars believe that the percentage is actually much higher, that only at the margins were any Africans enslaved directly by Europeans.

The leading role of Africans in the slave trade was a necessary one. The slave trade took place before Europeans colonized the continent of Africa, and white traders exercised little influence beyond their coastal trading posts. Only African societies could extract slaves from the interior of the continent, primarily by taking captives in wars or kidnapping in raids.

The vital role of Africans in the slave trade made for a highly profitable business for many African societies, lining the pockets of local rulers and of the many ordinary people who became involved in the trade. As Professor Gates notes, slaves were the primary export of many kingdoms in western and central Africa, including the Asante in Ghana, Dahomey in Benin, Ndongo in Angola, and Kongo in the modern Congo.

These facts dispel the myths that Africans were only tangentially involved in the slave trade, or that African societies were coerced into participation, or that the slave trade left a legacy of demographic or economic harm to those societies which participated in it.

Another myth which I often hear is that Africans participating in the slave trade had no idea what slavery meant in the Americas. The implication is that they were less culpable because they assumed slavery would be far more benign for the victims than it actually was. Gates outlines the historical evidence against this myth, too, noting that many African elites, including ambassadors and the children of African royalty, actually visited the Americas, and even did so on slave ships. Meanwhile, enslaved Africans would occasionally be freed and return to their homes in Africa, while later on, thousands of freed slaves returned to settle in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

As Gates puts it, “under these circumstances, it is difficult to claim that Africans were ignorant or innocent.”

Why this truth is so hard to talk about

I said above that what is noteworthy about this essay isn’t the history that Gates recounts, but that someone of his stature is telling this truth, and putting it front-and-center in the discussion about reparations for slavery.

Those of us who are descended from the DeWolf slave traders, and who speak out in Traces of the Trade about the dominant role of the northern United States in slavery and the slave trade, are generally quite well-received by those who want to push forward the dialogue about reparations, or the legacy of slavery generally. In other words, those who care about this issue tend to embrace the message that the complicity of (white) Americans in slavery and the slave trade was broader and deeper than has been generally acknowledged, that this complicity extended to the northern states and to most ordinary citizens.

Most people who are in conversation about the legacy of slavery in the United States are, however, deeply reluctant to acknowledge the role of Africans in the slave trade. As Gates describes it,

Excuses run the gamut, from “Africans didn’t know how harsh slavery in America was” and “Slavery in Africa was, by comparison, humane” or, in a bizarre version of “The devil made me do it,” “Africans were driven to this only by the unprecedented profits offered by greedy European countries.”

Why is this? One problem for many African Americans, in particular, is that it is always difficult to acknowledge that one’s own people were complicit in wrongdoing. We see this again and again in our work, as people freely acknowledge the horrors of the DeWolf slave trade, but are reluctant to embrace the truth that their own northern ancestors were probably involved in the slave trade, as well. Or people will embrace this truth, but reject that their own ancestors were complicit in slavery, as well, whether because they had settled in the midwest or the west during slavery, or came to this country as immigrants following the end of slavery in 1865.

Another reason why many black activists, and their white and non-white allies, are often reluctant to acknowledge the African role in the slave trade is that this reality explodes the myth that the enslavement of Africans occurred because of racism. While history amply demonstrates that this belief is false, the myth lives on because it is a convenient way of understanding the past and of explaining the truth that the burden of these historical events and their legacy has fallen to black people to bear.

Likewise, it is convenient to believe that the blame for slavery can be allotted on the basis of race. This mythology not only allows for the demonization of white people historically, but it provides ammunition for claims of reparations for slavery.

The argument for reparations is generally framed as a claim that black people continue to bear considerable disadvantages as a result of slavery, and that white people are responsible for correcting that situation. The first part of the argument is hard to refute, but the second part is much more problematic. Why should those who played no part in the history of slavery be held accountable for it? The easy answer, but one which is historically false, is to claim that it was white people perpetrated slavery and must now be held accountable for it.

(There are other ways to make the case for reparations, which is how Gates can emphasize this history and still suggest that reparations is an issue that cannot simply be dismissed. One approach, for instance, is to point out that white people today still disproportionately enjoy the benefits of the history of slavery. Another response would be that society as a whole, and not white people per se, are responsible for correcting an historic injustice perpetrated by this society.)

How conservatives misuse this history to silence the conversation

A final reason why many people are profoundly reluctant to talk about the African role in slavery is that this history is commonly abused by those who would shut off all discussion of the history and legacy of slavery in our society. I will refer to these people here as conservatives for simplicity, although I’m talking specifically about those who, regardless of their politics in other respects, argue that the history of slavery no longer has any effect on our society and that we should simply stop talking about it.

Their reasoning is simple: if African societies participated in the slave trade, then there is no reason to hold our society accountable for its own role. If black people participated in the slave trade, then there is no reason for white people to pay attention to this history today.

This is, of course, a misuse of history. The fact that various societies, and people of various races, participated in the slave trade says nothing about who must grapple with this history, and its legacy, today. Indeed, most people would reject out of hand the notion that one person, group, or nation may avoid dealing with an historical legacy because others have inherited that legacy, as well, or have not yet owned up to their own inheritance. In fact, however, many African leaders and nations have been addressing their historical responsibility for the slave trade in recent years, acknowledging responsibility and asking for forgiveness.

The importance of telling this history

Why must we openly acknowledge and engage this history, despite the risk that doing so will be difficult and that others may seize on these facts for their own purposes?

On one level, this is a strategic issue. As long as we do not include the complicity of Africans in how we tell the story of slavery and the slave trade, those who would silence this conversation can continue to play “gotcha” by unveiling that aspect of the story, as if it were a dramatic surprise and an unexpected argument which undermines the entire discussion.

More broadly, I believe firmly that the starting point for addressing an historical legacy must be to tell the truth, and the entire truth, at that.

In the case of slavery in particular, we have long suffered in the U.S. from a collective national amnesia about certain key aspects of this history. The path to a comprehensive national dialogue, to healing in whatever form, and to moving forward together must lie in encouraging the telling of the whole truth. Deliberately obscuring inconvenient aspects of this truth will only hinder this effort and aid those who would keep other other important facts buried forever.

We also need to learn important truths about human nature from the long, terrible history of Atlantic slavery. In particular, why have we chosen to enslave others so often in our history? How is it that we are able to do so, and to justify what we do to ourselves? We can’t explore these questions if we aren’t open and honest about who participated in slavery, as well as how and why they did so.

I’ve also suggested that we have dramatically overstated the role of race in the history of slavery, as well as in our response to this history today. In the end, race did play a vital role in this history: circumstances conspired to bring about a situation in which the free citizens of our society were primarily of one race, while those who were enslaved were primarily of another race. This fact, in turn, led to profound racial inequalities in contemporary society, and to the development of ideas about race which retain a tight grip on our thinking even today. It is this last aspect, however, which explains why we have in some ways overstated the role of race in slavery and in our response to it today.

I am convinced that in order to move forward together, we need to both acknowledge the role which race has played, and continues to play, in our society, and also to confront the limitations of race as a way to think about ourselves and our society.

MANAGERS AND PROGRAM SPECIALISTS SOUGHT

Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North is an Emmy-nominated documentary film which has become the basis for outreach efforts focused on advancing the cause of racial justice and reconciliation and expanding understanding of the history and legacy of the North’s role in slavery.  Thanks to a recent major grant, we are in a position to expand our work beyond the first-year of release, to pursue more systemic institutional impacts.

The various positions/function areas described below are not full-time.  We list them all together here with the hope that applicants might be interested in, and capable of, filling various roles— possibly combining small part-time positions in such a way as to create fuller part-time positions, or a full-time position.  For example, the Program Director role could be combined with the Training Coordinator position for a 20-30 hr/wk position.  We are also open to applicants who are only interested in one position.  We hope that these positions will grow with more funding.

To Apply: Please submit a cover letter, resume, three references, and a writing sample to Madeline McNeely at human.resources@tracesofthetrade.org. When emailing, please put in subject line: Candidate – last name, first name (such as “Candidate – Jones, Julia”).

Deadline: The preferred application deadline for these positions is September 1, 2009. After that date please send an email to Madeline McNeely at human.resources@tracesofthetrade.org to see if positions might still be available.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FILM AND OUTREACH:

Traces of the Trade tells the story of first-time filmmaker Katrina Browne’s New England ancestors, the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history.  At Browne’s invitation, nine fellow descendants decide to journey with her to retrace the steps of the Triangle Trade.  The family travels from Bristol, Rhode Island where the family business was based, to slave forts in Ghana where they meet with African-Americans on their own homecoming pilgrimages, to the ruins of a family-owned plantation in Cuba.  At each stop, the family grapples with the contemporary legacy of slavery, not only for black Americans, but for themselves as white Americans.  They come face-to-face with their love/hate relationship to Yankee culture and privilege, and struggle with how to take public action given all that they now know.

The issues the DeWolf descendants are confronted with dramatize questions that apply to the nation as a whole: What, concretely, is the legacy of slavery—for diverse whites, for diverse blacks, for diverse others?  What history do we inherit as individuals and as citizens?  How does Northern complicity change the equation?  What would repair—spiritual and material—really look like and what would it take?

Traces of the Trade premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2008, and was broadcast in June, 2008 on PBS’s premiere documentary series P.O.V.  It is now being used as a tool for education, dialogue and action across the country.  Educational DVD distribution is through California Newsreel.  We are committed to being an anti-racist organization internally and externally.  For more info: www.tracesofthetrade.org

POSITIONS:

Managing Director (20-25 hours/week)

Member of senior management team with filmmaker & Ebb Pod President Katrina Browne, and the Program Director.  We envision the Managing Director and Program Director as leading and managing the day-to-day operations of the organization, while Browne fulfills external functions, such as public speaking, press work, and initiating program and fundraising opportunities.

• Supervise Program Director, Office Manager, and Business Affairs & IT Officer.
• Oversee strategic planning processes for creating clear deliverables and timelines.
• Manage budget, expenditures and other financial matters.
• Partner with Browne in developing and implementing fundraising plans.
• Partner with Program Director on the completion of semi-annual staff evaluations and staff development/training plans.
• Refine personnel policies with involvement of Office Manager.
• Manage board of advisors and accountability group to anti-racist people of color.
• Handle routine senior administrative and legal matters.
• Provide leadership and handle other responsibilities as they arise in order to meet on-going organizational needs.

Program Director (10-15 hours/week)

• Supervise all program-related staff/consultants (Training Coordinator, Faith-Based Coordinator, Education Coordinator, Public History Coordinator, Event Coordinator), assisting in creation of clear timelines and deliverables.
• Hire an independent evaluation consultant; work with them and program staff to develop tools to measure impacts; ensure that tools are utilized, data collected, and reports generated.
• Manage partnerships for on-going organizing of “general public” events with the film (vs. events for specialized audiences/professions handled by the specialized program staff).
• Pursue re-broadcasts of Traces via local public television stations, in collaboration with P.O.V., such that they can serve as focal point for organizing local dialogues with local partners.  Explore potential of city-wide post-airing dialogues similar to “Big Read” concept.
• Manage regional partnerships, such as focused efforts in Connecticut and Michigan with various collaborators.

For the four program-related positions that follow, all of the following apply as duties:

• Develop strategic plan and program deliverables for impacting particular field based on organization’s goals.
• Bring anti-racism goals and perspectives to all aspects of the work.
• Work with Training Coordinator to develop dialogue/training models for program area and maintain best practices.
• Work with Events Coordinator to determine which “Traces family” members to match with which events and provide event design/technical assistance as needed by event hosts.
• Work with Program Director to develop evaluation tools and implement their use.
• Work with Managing Director to manage budgeting and expenses.
• Write programming text when necessary for fundraising proposals and foundation reports.
• Maintain relationships with relevant orgs/partners for respective content area; attend professional conferences to present, network and generate new opportunities.

1. Training Coordinator (10-15 hours/week)

• Refine the theoretical framework for using Traces as a tool for racial justice and reconciliation.
• Refine concrete training/dialogue models for use of the documentary and DVD extras, flowing from framework, and building on existing resources (POV discussion guide; theories in the field; etc.).  Continuously update training materials so that they are dynamic, evolving, and sensitive to changing social conditions.
• Cultivate a group of lead trainers, who, along with Traces family members, will be available as trainers/facilitators of film-based trainings/dialogues at professional conferences and in various workplaces settings (non-profit, corporate, governmental, philanthropic).  Match trainers/ facilitators with events based on expertise and help design events.
• Generate content for materials that market our available services.
• Organize and conduct trainings for facilitators and Traces family members.
• Act as a liaison with facilitator networks/individuals in fields of racial reconciliation/dialogue, anti-racism, corporate diversity training, multicultural education, etc.

2. Faith-Based Coordinator (10-15 hours/week)

• Work with current religious partners (Episcopal Church, Unitarian Universalist Association), partnerships in formation (United Church of Christ, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Reformed Church in America), and new denominational partners (to be cultivated), to use Traces to advance their white privilege and anti-racism work, and work related to history/legacy of slavery in their denominations (including possibly via resolutions).
• Expand our outreach from mainline Protestant denominations to evangelical, Catholic and Jewish religious communities, and other relevant faiths.
• Coordinate our participation in Traces screening/dialogue events at congregations, regional religious bodies, religious conferences, etc.
• Coordinate with Policy Coordinator on how to mobilize people of faith towards public policy/ action-oriented goals in truth & reconciliation, racial justice and modern anti-slavery.
• Continue to expand faith-based guides and resources (available through website).

3. Education Coordinator (10-15 hours/week)

• Either in-house, or through sub-contract(s) with partners, develop curricula and other materials for middle school and high school classroom use of Traces with sensitivity to educational standards; develop accompanying teacher training module.
• Develop professional development workshop for teachers on how to teach about slavery in ways that further productive racial identity formation for students (in demographic-appropriate ways); help teachers reflect on how their own racial identity impacts their teaching.
• Coordinate our participation in school-based Traces events in middle schools, high schools, undergraduate and graduate programs.
• Catalyze action to impact how slavery is taught in middle through high school by influencing state departments of education, school boards, independent school networks and text book companies, so that the role of the North in slavery is more systematically taught over long-term.
• Work with independent schools to use the film as a catalyst for dialogue on issues of race, class and privilege.

4. Public History Coordinator (5-10 hours/week)

• Utilize Traces as a tool for catalyzing a greater number of Northern museums (e.g. house museums) and historic sites that have ties to the history of slavery to bring that forward in their interpretive work for the public.
• Create a professional development workshop for public history staff and volunteers (e.g. docents) on the role of the North in slavery and best approaches with the public.  Help participants reflect on how their own racial identity impacts their work with the public.
• Use the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War (2011-2015) as basis for programming that “complicates” the myth of North=good guys, and South=bad guys.
• Take leadership role in a nascent collaboration between Northern public history institutions to organize programming for Sesquicentennial (which will include writing grant proposals).
• Coordinate our participation in Traces screening/dialogue events at museums, historic sites, public history conferences, etc.

GENERAL QUALIFICATIONS:

Education/Experience:

• Background in the areas listed for the specific position (3 years or more preferred).
• Undergraduate degree required; graduate degree in relevant field a plus.
• 3-5 years experience in a detail-oriented, fast-paced non-profit office environment a plus.
• Experience with documentary film/outreach projects a plus.

Skills/Qualities:

• Ability to work as part of a team, coordinating among multiple people.
• Ability to communicate well both orally and in writing, with people representing a range of backgrounds, positions, and institutions.
• Commitment to racial justice and reconciliation; sensitivity to dynamics of race and class.
• Conscientious, detail-oriented, dependable, and efficient.
• Strong skills in project coordination and oversight.
• Innovative, quick learner, ability to adapt to new challenges.
• Ability to exercise independent judgment and assume responsibility for decisions, consequences, and results having an impact on people, costs, and/or quality of service.

Technical knowledge:

• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite of software programs.

Compensation: Commensurate with experience.

Location: Cambridge, MA

To Apply: Please submit a cover letter, resume, three references, and a writing sample to Madeline McNeely at human.resources@tracesofthetrade.org. When emailing, please put in subject line: Candidate – last name, first name (such as “Candidate – Jones, Julia”).

Deadline: The preferred application deadline for these positions is September 1, 2009. After that date please send an email to Madeline McNeely at human.resources@tracesofthetrade.org to see if positions might still be available.

Hiring policy: Ebb Pod is an equal opportunity employer.  Candidates of color are strongly encouraged to apply.

This nomination is part of the 30th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards, which will be presented in a ceremony in New York City on September 21.

The individuals included in the nomination, for their original research for the film, are:

Jennifer Anderson
Africanus Aveh
Andrew Barr
Catherine Benedict
Katrina Browne
Boris Iván Crespo
Elizabeth Delude-Dix
Heather Kapplow
Alla Kovgan
James DeW. Perry
Beth Sternheimer

Congratulations to the members of the research team, and to all the others who made it possible for this research to appear in the documentary and to air on national television last year.

The interview, conducted by Michel Martin, can be heard online here.

Katrina, as a descendant of the nation’s leading slave-traders, was interviewed with Daniel Smith, a former civil rights activist and the son of a man born into slavery.

Katrina and Mr. Smith both emphasized that the Senate apology for slavery is merely a first step in the process of acknowledging the nation’s history of slavery and racial discrimination, and in addressing racial inequities in areas such as education and health care.

This position entails coordinating screening events and programs associated with the film. The organization, using the film as a resource, is committed to advancing the cause of racial justice and reconciliation. Events will include screenings, speaking engagements, workshops, etc. featuring the filmmaker, family members from the film, and staff members. Events will take place at schools and universities, museums, workplaces, community centers, religious congregations, film festivals and other venues.

For more information, please see the job’s position announcement.

The resolution acknowledges the nation’s long and brutal history of slavery and racial discrimination and apologizes to black Americans “on behalf of the people of the United States.”

The text of the resolution outlines the history of slavery and Jim Crow discrimination, noting that blacks continue to suffer from the “consequences” of this history, in ways both tangible and intangible, to this day.

S. Con. Res. 26, “A concurrent resolution apologizing for the enslavement and racial segregation of African Americans,” currently has eight co-sponsors: Sen. Christopher Bond (R-Mo.), Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kans.), Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.).

You may view the map here.

The House passed H.Res. 194, a resolution sponsored by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), by voice vote after the measure attracted 120 co-sponsors. The resolution follows a similar measure by the Senate in February, apologizing for U.S. actions against Native Americans, and a congressional apology and reparations twenty years ago to Japanese Americans and their descendants for the use of concentration camps by the U.S. in World War II.

…Let the first of January, the day of the abolition of the slave trade in our country, be set apart in every year, as a day of publick thanksgiving for that mercy. Let the history of the sufferings of our brethren, and of their deliverance, descend by this means to our children, to the remotest generations; and when they shall ask, in time to come, saying, What mean the lessons, the psalms, the prayers and the praises in the worship of this day? Let us answer them, by saying, the Lord, on the day of which this is the anniversary, abolished the trade which dragged your fathers from their native country, and sold them as bondmen in the United States of America.

– Absalom Jones, Minister, St. Thomas African Episcopal Church of Philadelphia and freed slave

With these words, on January 1, 1808, Rev. Absalom Jones hailed the legal abolition of U.S. participation in the transatlantic slave trade, a victory which seeded the ground for greater changes yet to come.

For the first twenty years after the founding of the United States, the slave trade was protected by the Constitution. A compromise had been reached at the constitutional convention of 1787, providing that the federal government could not prohibit the importation of slaves into the southern states for a period of 20 years.

As the 1808 expiration of the constitutional provision approached, Congress was divided on the issue of the slave trade. Then President Thomas Jefferson made a dramatic pronouncement. Jefferson, whose record on slavery was ambiguous but who strongly opposed the slave trade, declared in his annual message to Congress his support for the total abolition of the slave trade. A bill to this effect was introduced in Congress the next day. After heated debate, Congress passed the legislation. It was signed into law on March 2, 1807. The legislation prohibited the importation of any slave as of January 1, 1808, the day the constitutional prohibition on such a ban expired.

The abolition of the slave trade by the United States and by Great Britain (1807) led to the decline of the trade and, in time, contributed to the abolition of slavery itself in the British Empire (1834) and the U.S. (1865). For years after 1808, thanks to Absalom Jones and others, free black communities in the ante-bellum North celebrated January 1st, the anniversary of the abolition of the trade, as a black Fourth of July.

January 1, 2008 marks the bicentennial of the abolition of the slave trade. This date is not widely known. One key reason is that the slave trade was conducted on Northern ships, with Northern commodities, and Northern financial backing. The complicity of the North in slavery has been obscured, so that many Americans don’t know the history of the trade and of its abolition. The bicentennial presents a historic opportunity to set the record straight.

The year 2008 will be an opportunity to “remember, reflect and respond” to the horrors of the slave trade and the struggle to bring it to an end. Momentum is building throughout the country to use the bicentennial to further the national conversation on race and justice, inspired by the efforts in England in 2007 to commemorate the bicentenary of the abolition of the British slave trade. The British government invested the equivalent of $40 million in major programs, exhibits, and events; a service was held at Westminster Abbey, the BBC aired programs, and the film Amazing Grace was released. Leadership in the U.S. is now being undertaken in Congress, the Smithsonian, state humanities councils, religious denominations, universities, museums and beyond. This bicentennial can inspire us, together, to look around the world and face the challenge of ending the forms of slavery that still exist. Simultaneously, we can rededicate ourselves to the work of tackling the many legacies of slavery that have, in one way or another, shaped all Americans.