Led by icon and activist Samuel L. Jackson, Enslaved sheds new light on 400 years of human trafficking from Africa to the New World. Based on a DNA test identifying his ancestral tribe, the series traces Jackson’s personal journey from the U.S. to Gabon for his induction into the Benga tribe, with rare and unprecedented access to secret ceremonies and local customs. Following its launch on EPIX, Enslaved will also premiere on CBC in Canada on Sunday, October 18 at 9 p.m. (9:30 NT). The series is being distributed internationally by Fremantle.
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Using new diving technology – such as advanced 3D mapping and ground-penetrating radar – to locate and examine sunken slave ships on three continents, the series reveals an entirely new perspective on the history of the transatlantic slave trade. The series also tracks the efforts of Diving With a Purpose (DWP), a collaborating organization with The National Association of Black Scuba Divers (NABS), as they search for and locate six slave ships that sank drowning the enslaved humans aboard. Featuring the most dives ever made on sunken slave ships, Enslaved also chronicles the first positive identification of a “Freedom Ship,” an American schooner that ferried African American runaways to Canada.
Each episode follows 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.
Enslaved also celebrates stories of resistance, accomplishment and hope; the cultures left behind and the culture that we live in presently…a culture that, in many ways, was born in the bowels of those sunken slave ships.
Enslaved is a Canada/UK co-production between Toronto-based Associated Producers and London-based Cornelia Street Productions produced in association with CBC, Canada’s public broadcaster, and documentary Channel in Canada. Simcha Jacobovici serves as series director. Enslaved is executive produced by Samuel L. Jackson, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Eli Selden, Rob Lee, Simcha Jacobovici, Ric Esther Bienstock, Sarah Sapper and Yaron Niski, and produced by Ric Esther Bienstock, Sarah Sapper and Felix Golubev. Produced in association with Anonymous Content, along with UppiTV, Samuel and LaTanya Jackson’s television production company.
