David Pettee always loved family history. But there was a lot he did not know. His old New England family talked plenty of Pilgrims and Puritans. They did not talk about slaves in the family. Or slave traders.

But when Pettee really opened the books, there they were — and more. A torched village. Rum for Africans. The ship’s manifest with “salt, cotton, tobacco — and Negroes.”

He went to Africa. He called the descendants of the slaves his family owned. On the phone. We’ll hear from him. And them.

This hour, On Point: Slaves in the family, way north of the Mason-Dixon line

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Rev. David Pettee, Director of Ministerial Credentialing at the Unitarian Universalist Association, and descendant of Rhode Island slave owner Ewdard Simmons.

Patricia Mann, CEO of Royal Reporting and descendant of the slave Cuff Simmons.