you found out your ancestors had slaves/were involved in the slave trade??


We watched a documentary on this today in my Intro to Black Studies class today. This family felt so guilty and they were really letting it get to them that there ancestors were involved in this. They went on a 3 week trip following the triangular trade route their ancestors used. I thought about whether I would feel guilty and I decided on NO, because I did not do this and I do not condone their actions. No, I wouldn't think its right, but I dont think I should bear the blame or guilt for it.

what do you think?

No. I had nothing to do with it and you can't change reality.

Depending on how far back in history you went, you could probably find most people with some ties to some form of slavery. Slavery wasn't unique to the United States.

Nope.

Not one bit.

We are supposed to discuss the movie next class, and I feel as if I will come off as "racist" if I bring up how I truly feel.

Nope.

May I ask why are you taking a Intro to Black Studies course? Is this mandatory? Or something you chose just to fill time?

UA5straightin2008 wrote: We are supposed to discuss the movie next class, and I feel as if I will come off as "racist" if I bring up how I truly feel.

If the teacher makes you feel that way, I would drop the class. Why should you fake a feeling or lie just for a grade? Thats wrong!!!

Not at all. I only feel guilty for things I've done or somehow contributed to.

coyotes22 wrote: Nope.

May I ask why are you taking a Intro to Black Studies course? Is this mandatory? Or something you chose just to fill time?

Liberal Arts School.

we must take:

2 fine arts classes
2 sciences
2 humanities
2 social sciences
1 Interdisciplinary class
1 Foreign Language

in addition to our major/minor (6 upper level bio classes/5 chem classes for BS in Bio/minor in chem)

plus ive heard its not too difficult

i would feel no shame

I would question the honesty of anyone saying "yes" to this. Or at least question the motives.

Although, I will say that black studies classes can be very good for discussion in general. I took a few in my college days that were enlightening, even to myself. I learned more from my fellow students than from the professor....not that the prof was bad, I just think that's more what she wanted.

Definitely not.

Ya mean would we pull a Jesse Spano?

Doubtful.

this is the basis of the documentary:

Filmmaker Katrina Browne is descended from the DeWolf family (also spelled D’Wolf or DeWolfe) of Bristol, Rhode Island. The most prominent member of this family, James DeWolf (1764-1837), was a U.S. senator and a wealthy merchant who was reportedly the second-richest person in the country when he died. In the 1790s and early 1800s, DeWolf and his brothers virtually built the economy of Bristol: many of the buildings they funded still stand, and the stained glass windows at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church bear DeWolf names to this day. Across the generations, their family has included state legislators, philanthropists, writers, scholars, and Episcopal bishops and priests.

The DeWolf family fortune was built in part on buying and selling human beings. Over fifty years and three generations, from 1769 to 1820, the DeWolfs were the nation’s leading slave traders. They brought approximately 10,000 Africans from the west coast of Africa to auction blocks in Charleston, South Carolina and other southern U.S. ports; to Havana, Cuba and to other ports in the Caribbean; to their own sugar plantations in Cuba; and into their own homes. The family continued in the trade despite state and federal laws prohibiting many of their activities in the late 1700s. Their efforts to circumvent those laws eventually lead them to arrange a political favor with President Thomas Jefferson, who agreed to split the federal customs district based in Newport, R.I. This maneuver permitted the appointment of a customs inspector just for Bristol, and the choice was Charles Collins, the brother-in-law of James DeWolf, who conveniently ignored the slave ships moving in and out of harbor. One member of the family, George DeWolf, even continued in the trade after 1808, when Congress banned the importation of slaves into the U.S., until 1820, when Congress made slave trading a hanging offense. Their complicity in slavery continued even afterwards, however, as the family maintained slave plantations in Cuba and James DeWolf invested his slave trade profits in textile mills which used slave-produced cotton. Today, there are as many as half a million living descendants of the people traded as chattel by the DeWolfs.

I would feel a little ashamed...but wouldn't feel guilty. I didn't do it, so I shouldn't feel the guilt for it.

sherm03 wrote: I would feel a little ashamed...but wouldn't feel guilty. I didn't do it, so I shouldn't feel the guilt for it.

My initial response was yes, but your answer might be more appropriate.

Probably the only way I would feel guilty is if my family has "old money" that can be directly traced to slavery. But even then, slavery was not against the law... immoral yes, but lawful at the time.

So I guess I would say no, I would not feel guilty, just as I am sure the Kennedy's don't feel guilty with the millions of dollars Joe Sr. made on the black market during prohibition.

Apple wrote: So I guess I would say no, I would not feel guilty, just as I am sure the Kennedy's don't feel guilty with the millions of dollars Joe Sr. made on the black market during prohibition.

In my mind selling alcohol illegally is not the same as selling people. (illegally or legally)

Indeed, there is a difference between shame and guilt. Very good point.

FatHobbit wrote:

Apple wrote: So I guess I would say no, I would not feel guilty, just as I am sure the Kennedy's don't feel guilty with the millions of dollars Joe Sr. made on the black market during prohibition.

In my mind selling alcohol illegally is not the same as selling people. (illegally or legally)

True. Slavery is morally wrong.

Looks like the DeWolfe's circumvented the law just as the Kennedy's did.

feeling bad will not change history

So should a black person feel guilty if they learned that their ancestors were involved in the triangular trade from the African side??

ManO'War wrote: So should a black person feel guilty if they learned that their ancestors were involved in the triangular trade from the African side??

Are you saying there were black people in Africa, selling their own people?

Not at all. Wasn't any of my doings.