The lost history of the transatlantic slave trade.
A look at 400 years of human trafficking from Africa to the New World with each episode following three separate story lines: the quest for a sunken slave ship, a personal journey by Samuel L. Jackson and a historical investigation led by investigative journalists Simcha Jacobovici and Afua Hirsch.
Cultures Left Behind
Sep 14, 2020
Episode 1 launches the epic story of the transatlantic slave trade. Divers from Diving With a Purpose go in search of sunken slave ships. Hollywood icon Samuel L. Jackson goes on a personal journey to meet the tribe of his ancestors for the first time.
Rationalization
Sep 21, 2020
Samuel L. Jackson recruits two award-winning journalists to go on a mission to understand the process that led Europeans to see slavery as profitable, rational and justified. Diving With a Purpose divers locate the earliest slave wreck ever found.
Follow the Money
Sep 28, 2020
Shot on location in Suriname, Brazil, Portugal and the UK, this episode investigates the economics of the slave trade, while searching for a sunken slave ship that represents the single greatest loss of life during the entire slave trade.
New World Cultures
Oct 5, 2020
Samuel L. Jackson visits Africatown, Alabama, the only African town established in America. The Diving With a Purpose divers help youths in Costa Rica discover their African heritage, by diving and identifying a sunken slave ship off their coast.
Resistance
Oct 12, 2020
This episode investigates African resistance to slavery in Africa and the “Underground Railroad.” The Diving With a Purpose divers embark on an investigation to positively identify a preserved wreck that ferried African Americans to freedom.
Abolition
Oct 19, 2020
The final episode explores the politics that brought the enslavement of Africans in the West to an end. Diving with a Purpose divers search for “The London,” a ship that re-enslaved freed Africans from St. Lucia and illegally trafficked them to England.
