Traces of the Trade in Bermuda: Big Watch and Big Read

Posted December 9th, 2010 by Marga Varea
Category: Outreach Tags: Bermuda, Inheriting the Trade, Traces of the Trade

In April, Katrina Browne, executive director of the Tracing Center and producer/director/writer of Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North, was invited to Bermuda by the anti-racism organization Citizens Uprooting Racism in Bermuda (CURB) to present the film and speak to high school students and community members about her journey and our work around racial justice and reconciliation.

The dialogues in Bermuda deeply moved hundreds of people and a short video, Discussing the Trade, was created by local filmmaker Alex Dill to record the impact of our visit. You can see the video here.

CURB’s vision states “A Bermuda where skin colour favours no one”. Because our programs clearly helped move that vision forward, and in the context of Bermuda’s history of slavery and racial segregation, CURB wanted everyone in the island to have the opportunity to see the film. Alongside CURB’s leadership, and particularly with our amazing ally Lynne Winfield, we started planning an innovative long-month program of activities: “THE BIG WATCH” and “THE BIG READ”.

THE BIG WATCH entailed a partnership among CITV, the Government of Bermuda television station, CURB and Ebb Pod (the film’s production company) to broadcast Traces every single day during the month of October. In addition, over the summer and fall, CURB asked its members, supporters and friends to read Inheriting the Trade, written by family member Tom DeWolf, and to create discussion groups to dialogue around the topics of the book, thus the “THE BIG READ”. As part of the plan, Tom DeWolf visited Bermuda on the third week of October and held several live presentations for high school students and the general public. His impressions of the trip can be read here.

The program was a tremendous success that we plan to replicate. Although this was our first BIG WATCH, we are excited to announce that the Tracing Center plans to program several BIG WATCH programs in coming years in communities throughout the United States and overseas, in conjunction with the sesquicentennial of the U.S. Civil War.