News Story 1

In honor of the first day of Black History month, Cate Center hosted a film showing of Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North, followed by a discussion with Couch Center’s faculty resident Lupe Davidson.

                Students of all age, gender and race attended the event in the Cate Main Social Lounge hosted by the Black Student Association, Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, the Couch and Cate Faculty-in-Residence Programs and the Cate Residents Student Association.

                Iota Phi Theta member Augustine Wiah says the even turn-out was better than they anticipated.

                “We had around 86 people come out to watch the film and stay for the discussion with Lupe Davidson, who put forth the idea of showing Traces of the Trade.” Wiah said.

                The film documents decedents of the DeWolf family, one of the most prominent slave-trading families in U.S. history, as they travel to the slave-trading posts where their ancestors once frequented.

                According to tracesofthetrade.org, the Dewolfs were the nation’s leading slave-traders, bringing approximately 10,000 Africans to the U.S. and parts of the Caribbean to be auctioned off.

                Junior Gabby Logan says that she attended the film not only to support fellow members of the Black Student Association, but also to get a better perspective on slavery and how it is viewed in today’s society from a white family’s point-of-view.

                “It was interesting to see people who genuinely feel bad about slavery and its effects, even if they are not directly accountable for it.” Logan said.

                The film captures the emotions experienced by the family members who took the journey through the Triangle Trade and walked the paths taken by slaves their own family had once forced to follow.

                Following the film, Davidson led a discussion amongst those who attended and encouraged students to give their honest feedback of the film and its meanings.

                “I feel as if the film started a spark at the very least. It sparked interest in the topic of racism and slavery for those who had little knowledge on the subject. You don’t really get to learn all of this in-depth information and have these discussions in your high school history classes.” Wiah said.

“The goal of this event wasn’t to necessarily promote Black History month, but rather to get students interested in black history so that we can have more events in the future like this that students would want to attend.”

The Black Student Association and the members of Iota Phi Theta plan to provide students more opportunities to learn about black history. Upcoming events can be found on the homepage of the OU website.