Black women:

• Experience overt trauma in actual and threats of bodily harm through violence, sexual assault, and homicide, at more frequent rates than other women. 

• Face untreated inter-generational trauma—from slavery, the rape of our ancestors, and chronic poverty—that is inherited and lives in our genes and our bodies even if we did not personally experience it. 

• Are regularly exposed to more covert forms of trauma that come from navigating a racist and patriarchal society in a Black woman’s body, which impact the way we are perceived by others and thus the way we perceive ourselves. 

• Are more than four times more likely to be murdered than white or Latina women.

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Generational trauma, which is rooted in the inhumanity of slavery and preceded by post-traumatic slave syndrome, has a monumental role in the minimization and hiding of Black joy and play today. The lives of our enslaved ancestors were brutal and often resulted in punishment, rape, and death. There was a fear of expressing joy which was passed down from generation to generation in an attempt to protect Black children from white violence. Those who owned the enslaved had inhumane and cruel ways in an attempt to break not only their physical bodies, but their souls as well. Our ancestors expressed the resilience to stay alive, and staying alive did not always involve the expression of joy and play. This joy and play could mean death to you and your loved ones. This had the unintentional consequence of limiting Black people’s expressions of joy, silliness, and play once freedom came.

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