by Ashley Sowers
Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome – America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury & Healing by Dr. Joy Degruy immediately sparked my interest, but I do believe that there was underlying reluctance to begin digging into the topic. In hindsight, I had nothing to fear as I was familiar with most of the historical content presented in the book. What stood out to me most is Dr. Degruy’s genius in naming something I think many of us may have considered at one point or other. After all, you cannot fix something that has not been identified.
Throughout Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome (PTSS), Dr. Degruy shares anecdotal stories from her travels to Africa—in my opinion, this serves the purpose of comparing how different African communities rich or poor carry themselves in order to highlight that certain uniquely African-American behaviors stem from our traumatic history in America. Anecdotal stories are used in other instances to convey a number of complex concepts—I could see my friends and family in her examples.
“The primary purpose of this book is to encourage African Americans to view their attitudes, assumptions, and behaviors through the lens of history to gain a greater understanding of the impact centuries of slavery and oppression have had on our lives.”
Dr. Degruy starts by discussing race as a concept, illuminating that there are actually no biological differences between the perceived races. However, differences in skin color, hair texture, facial features, etc. have social impacts. Therefore, race is important and should be acknowledged as it relates to differential treatment. She then highlights that throughout history, the treatment of Black people in America has been so heinous that it fostered the dehumanization of our community.
“American chattel slavery was very different from most varieties of enslavement that preceded it. It differed in the manner in which a person became enslaved; it differed in the treatment of the enslaved; it differed in the length of servitude; most of all, it differed in the way owners viewed those they enslaved”
At that time, science falsely supported the notion that the enslaved were less intelligent and even less human. “Taxonomy, phrenology, and IQ testing all served as “scientific” foundations upon which the institutions of slavery and racial superiority/inferiority were constructed.” Dr. Degruy illustrates how this justified the Three-Fifths Compromise (each enslaved person counted for three-fifths a person rather than a full person).
While this compromise was one clear indication that overseers viewed their slaves as less than human, there were a number of behaviors that were justified by this notion. Enslaved people were legally susceptible to beatings, rape and scientific testing. The belief system during slavery persisted post-slavery with Black Codes and Jim Crow. Dr. Degruy asserts “we need to know the traumas of our ancestors in order to fully understand the strength of our people to survive and at times even thrive in some of the harshest conditions…strength that has been passed down to us.”
“That we are here at all can be seen as a testament to our willpower, spiritual strength, and resilience. However, 385 years of physical, psychological, and spiritual torture have left their mark.”
How has a history of generations of slavery and oppression in America affected our community? Epigenetics is how your environment influences your genes and helps explain how trauma can be transmitted from generation to generation. Research shows that DNA may contain a biological memory of the stress of our ancestors!
Review the diagnostic criteria for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)yourself! It is likely that a number of the enslaved suffered enough trauma to warrant a diagnosis. Dr. Degruy suggests that this history of PTSD has been inherited from our ancestors through epigenetics and has manifested as Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: a condition that exists when a population has experienced multigenerational trauma resulting from centuries of slavery and continues to experience oppression and institutionalized racism today. According to Dr. Degruy, PTSS manifests in three specific characteristics: vacant esteem, ever-present anger, and racist socialization (adopting the beliefs of the oppressor).
“The impact [of slavery] has given rise to weaknesses that we have to understand, confront, and deal with if we are to thrive. Another portion has provided us with great strengths upon which to build. In both regards, we all are slavery’s children”
To me, PTSS felt like a summary of my understanding of the history of the Black community in America. And as the book’s first sentence states: we must return and claim our past in order to move toward our future. Everyone should have a foundation in terms of their history—PTSS provides an adequate CliffsNotes version of that in my opinion.
Dr. Degruy ends PTSS with a chapter on healing, detailing a number of areas in which African Americans should approach healing: health, self-esteem, and faith/religion, for example. And while I personally did not leave with a clear call to action, I was inspired to share this book with a few specific people in my life. It contains important information and facilitates a conversation that needs to take place.
“Understanding the role our past plays in our present attitudes, outlooks, mindsets, and circumstances is important if we are to free ourselves from the spiritual, mental, and emotional shackles that bind us today, shackles that limit what we believe we can be, do and have. Understanding the part Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome plays in our evolution may be the key that helps to set us on the path to wellbeing”