One of the most-asked questions we received during (and after) our international journey to make Traces of the Trade was/is some variation of, “What’s next? Now that your family has been exposed to the history of the slave trade in ways that most people never have been, and the impact it still has today, what are you going to do as a result?”
One key activity that several family members involve ourselves in is responding to invitations to speak with school, church, and other community groups about the message of Traces. Dain and Constance Perry have made many such presentations over the past several years.
I find it most interesting to go back “home” to share our story. I visited the church I grew up in back in February. I was with Katrina in late April when she went home to Philadelphia to screen the film and speak with family and friends about Traces. This past week, Dain and Constance visited Wooster School, in Danbury, Connecticut, which Dain attended as a child.
The Danbury News-Times featured an article, Digging deep into racism, about their visit to Wooster in today’s (May 4) paper. Dain pointed out to me that to see how complicated and polarizing issues of race are, and how important it is to expand this conversation, one need only read the comments after the article.
Many Traces of the Trade participants are available to visit schools, churches, museums, libraries, conferences, and other groups interested in discussing the impact that “race” continues to have on all of us. If you’d like to discuss the possibility of having one of us visit your community, you can contact us here or here.