Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome

While African Americans managed to emerge from chattel slavery and the oppressive decades that followed with great strength and resiliency, they did not emerge unscathed. Slavery produced centuries of physical, psychological and spiritual injury. Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing lays the groundwork for understanding how the past has influenced the present, and opens up the discussion of how we can use the strengths we have gained to heal.

Dr Degruy takes you on an analytical journey of the horrifying effects of chattel slavery, lynching, Jim Crow laws, racism and all the other oppressive methods used against African-Americans for decades upon their psyche. Dr. Leary methodically lay’s out of how the lifestyles of African Americans today was influenced by their ancestors. She takes the reader through the process of diagnosing the various illnesses plaguing the African-American community by clearly defining and discussing the major categories of afflictions and providing one real life examples after another provoking feelings of recognition

This is an important book for any human being who wants to understand the ongoing impact from historic enslavement in the United States and what is necessary for healing.