Joy DeGruy - Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing

Praise for Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome

Dr. Joy DeGruy is a priceless asset to us all. She has lifted the bandages from the 400 year-old abscess of slavery that remains un-healed. Many black and white Americans have been taught that slavery ended by legislative means in 1865 so the issue is neatly side-stepped in school curricula, print and broadcast media. However, the hallmark of classroom teaching and responsible journalism must be proper context for full understanding. The removal of the slave shackle is important, but what about the emotional damage suffered by the enslaved?

Dr. DeGruy has raised this argument brilliantly, for years, lecturing far and wide. Her many appearances on my program, Like It Is, have evoked huge audience reactions from our viewers. Many have told me how coming to understand Dr. DeGruys message on Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome has helped them grapple with the multiplicity of problems today. I share those feelings of my viewers.

Now Dr. DeGruy has set down her highly important message/thesis in print. And so, to quote this wondrous physician: Let the healing begin.

-Gil Noble, Producer and Host, Like It Is, WABC_TV

Dr. Joy DeGruys Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: Americas Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing is a masterwork. Her deep understanding, critical analysis, and determination to illuminate core truths are essential to addressing the long-lived devastation of slavery. Her book is the balm we need to heal ourselves and our relationships. It is a gift of wholeness.

-Susan Taylor, Editorial Director, Essence Magazine

Dr. DeGruys book is seminal research in the field of differential cross-cultural diagnosis for mental health. Cultural Competence is a requirement for mental health and behavioral science workers. This text is required reading for all learners and practitioners. It is a vast reservoir of the how, why what, when, and where for much of the enduring injury and psychic pain of African Americans. This text moves us beyond deficit modeling and pathology; it opens a window to innovative models for healing in our multi-ethnic, pluralistic and linguistically diverse society.

-Edwin J. Nichols, Ph.D. Clinical/Industrial Psychologist.

At last, the book that all people who are truly interested in under-standing the lingering psychological and social impact of enslavement on Africans and Europeans has arrived. It is no exaggeration to say that Dr. DeGruys Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome will mark a milestone in the understanding of the relationship between racism and slavery. Read this book again and again and then give it to your friends, family and colleagues who want to understand how the ghost of slavery haunts us all.

-Dr. Ray Winbush, Institute for Urban Research, Morgan State University

Dr. DeGruys mesmerizing, riveting book is vital reading for our time. The corrosive residue on unmitigated and unrelieved atrocities called chattel slavery scours out the very core of our national identity. Neither the descendants of chattel slavery nor its designers have been unscathed. One doomed to mythologize its meaning, the other - to turn searing pain into self-loathing. We ignore our history at our own peril. With Dr. DeGruys potent words we can and will heal.

-Adeliade L. Sanford, Vice Chancellor, Board of Regents, State of New York

P ost T r aum a tic Sl a v e Synd r ome:

America s Le g a c y of Enduring

Inju r y and Healing

By

Jo y DeGruy, Ph. D .

F or e word b y R andall R obinson

P ost Tr aum a tic Sl a v e Synd r ome: America s Le g a c y of Enduring Inju r y and Healing

b y J o y DeG r uy, Ph. D .

Published by

Joy DeGruy Publications Inc.
1526 NE Alberta St. #210, Portland OR 97211
www.joydegruy.com

Originally published in hardcover by Uptone Press in 2005.

No pa r t of this book m a y be r e produced or t r ansmitted in any f o r m or b y any mean s , electronic or mechanical, including photoco p yin g , recordin g , or b y any in f o r m a tion sto r a ge and retri ev al system, without pe r mission in writing from the autho r , e x c e pt f or the inclusion of brief quot a tions in a r e vi e w .

Co p yright 2005 b y J o y DeG r uy Leary

All rights rese r v ed.

DeG r uy, Joy

P ost T r aum a tic Sl av e Syndrome: Americas L e g acy of Enduring Inju r y and Healing

Includes bi b li o g r aphical references and ind e x

ISBN: 978-0-9852172-0-4

Ebook ISBN: 978-0-9852172-1-1

Mobi file ISBN: 978-0-9852172-2-8

L CCN: 2005927853

Printed in the United St a tes of America

This book is dedic a ted to the memo r y of m y pa r ents Oscar and Nellie DeG r u y , who p r o vided me with the f oundation that has en a b led me to r ealize m y potential and whose l o ve and toil helped to mold and sh a pe the pe r son that I

h a ve becom e . This wo r k is the f r uit of their l a bo r .

T a b le of Contents

Foreword

Prologue

Introduction

Chapter 1:

I Dont E v en Notice R ace

Chapter 2:

W hole to Three-Fifths: Dehumaniz a tion

Chapter 3:

Crimes A g ainst Humanity

Chapter 4:

P ost T r aum a tic Sl av e Syndrome

Chapter 5:

Sl av e r ys Children

Chapter 5:

Sl av e r ys Children

Chapter 6:

Healing

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

Suggested Readings

References

F o r e w o r d

African-Americans are being urged, not only by the traditional bastions of American power, but by many successful blacks as well, to forget slavery, to forget Jim Crow, to forget about all that Africa was prior to the advent of trans-Atlantic slavery.

In this far-sighted and thoughtful book, J o y DeG r uy adds her v oice to those who are telling b lack Americans to p a y no a ttention to such disastrou s advic e . Inasmuc h a s African-American s ar e th e on l y American s whos e f orebea r s w er e d r a g oone d t o Americ a a g ains t thei r wil l an d ensl av e d in America f or near l y three centurie s , a curiosity a bout our past, questions a bout ancesto r s kn o wn and unkn o wn, and a need to kn o w a bout Africa be f ore w e w ere to r n from its breast is not on l y no r mal, b ut, indeed, is a sign of a healt h y intellect, ps y ch e , and soul.

W e t r av el many roads with D r . DeGruy in this work, one of the most m o ving of which ta k es us to Ndebele in Southe r n Africa in 1994, where w e meet Ndebele children. During this visit, w e g ain impo r tant insights into the impact of American sl a v e r y on our culture and our soul. The cont r ast s i n th e demeano r , a ttitude s , an d pe r sonalitie s o f Ndebel e children , reared in t r aditional African societie s , g rounded in African t r aditions and more s , shaped b y their o wn cultur e , on the one hand, and the children of O n v erw a gt, a community of b lacks fi r st ensl a v ed and then discarded, b y whit e Sout h African s , i s inst r ucti v e . Her e w e ar e helpe d t o bette r unde r stand the long f o r m a ti v e in f luence of American sl av e r y upon the socio-ps y chol o gical dilemmas of America tod a y , more than one hundred y ea r s after sl av e r ys official a bolishment.

D r . DeGruy s essentia l thesi s i s th a t sl a v e r y , th a t mos t b r uta l an d luc r a ti v e of American institution s , is a historical w a te r shed e v ent r e g arding which b lack Americans would be lo a the (and dangerous l y ill-se r v ed) to soften memo r y , b u t t o war d whic h the y should , indeed , pu r poseful l y strid e a s an area of ri g orous stu d y and research. This is essential f or us to better unde r stand and master the facts su r rounding sl a v e r y as a many-tentacled institution . I t i s on l y throug h a n appreci a tio n o f th e ful l realit y of Ame r ica n s l a v e r y t h a t b lac k Ame r ican s wil l unde r s tand , fi r s t , t h e eno r mit y of the crim e , and, second l y , th a t as descendents of the ensl a v ed, w e h av e nothing to be ashamed of.