Creating the New World is a groundbreaking series that examines how the largest forced migration in history constructed notions of race and identity; built new economies, and gave rise to global capitalism. Produced and directed by acclaimed filmmaker Stanley Nelson (Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution) for national broadcast on PBS.

In four one-hour programs, each covering a defined historical period and featuring a specific voyage as its narrative spine, the series explores the demographic, economic and moral transformations wrought by the slave trade, African participation and resistance to the trade, the business of the trade and the experience of enslaved people at the heart of the trade. Leveraging the latest scholarship, forensic science and recently unearthed archival material found across four continents, the series will challenge widespread popular misconceptions about the slave trade.

Directed by Stanley Nelson and produced by Nazenet Habtezghi and Hazel Gurland-Pooler, Creating the New World: The Transatlantic Slave Trade is a PBS Distribution release of a Firelight Films and ITVS production in association with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Major funding for Creating the New World: The Transatlantic Slave Trade is provided by Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS, National Endowment for the Humanities, Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, and the Independent Television Service. Principal funding for companion education and engagement activities from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundations and the Wyncote Foundation. Firelight Media is also grateful to Brown University’s Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice as its resources have been critical in properly researching this project.