Parity Pipeline

Genre

Synopsis

BLOOD LINES OF THE TRADE examines the lesser known “second middle passage” also referred to as the “domestic slave trade”. During the mid-19th century, slave traders purchased enslaved people from the northern plantations and forced them on long marches (or in cramped ships) to the lower south to work on cotton and sugar plantations. These cruel transactions involved separation from family members, long and arduous journeys chained together in coffles and even more brutal working conditions once sold off in Natchez or New Orleans. The two most infamous (and rich) slave traders during this time were John Armfield and Isaac Franklin. Their headquarters were in Alexandria, VA. They would ship or march the enslaved down south to Mississippi or Louisiana for future sale and brutal work on southern plantations. Rodney Williams (who is Black) is genetically related to John Armfield most certainly as a result of rape. Susanna Grannis (who is white) is a direct descendant of both John Armfield and Isaac Franklin. Blood Lines traces the ongoing impact of this shared ancestry in each of their lives. While never meeting in the film, Rodney and Susanna relate their divergent experiences; for Susanna, it is an awakening and for Rodney it is an exploration of the on-going damage inflicted by the slave traders. Blood Lines also journeys along the slave traders route, starting in Alexandria, VA with Susanna and continuing along the Natchez Trace with Rodney. In traveling along the Trace (a path carved out by merchants, traders, the enslaved) evidence of racism persists. In Natchez, we witness a correction of the “whitewashed story” among the predominance of a nostalgic “Gone With the Wind” version of history. The journey concludes at Angola State Penitentiary, a plantation owned by Isaac Franklin. With Rodney narrating his families history, the link between incarceration of African-Americans and the plantation system is explicit. As Susanna concludes, “We all have a story. If you look at your own life, there is no way America’s racism hasn’t affected you. That is the start of your story."