ABSTRACT

By centering the voices of formerly enslaved people, this article suggests that black Americans in the nineteenth century had a sophisticated understanding of how slavery’s brutality instituted a multi-generational legacy of trauma in the United States. While they would not recognize the term ‘post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), black writers’ detailed descriptions of traumatic violence, and its debilitating impact amongst their friends and relatives, reflect many symptoms associated with PTSD. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and its call to examine the lethal repercussions of systemic racism, this article provides one approach for scholars examining the links between anti-black racism and trauma in early American history.

摘要

通过集中从前被奴役者的声音，本文表明，十九世纪的黑人对奴隶制的残酷性如何在美国造成了多代人的创伤遗产有着深刻的理解。尽管他们不认识“创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）”一词，但黑人作家对创伤性暴力及其对亲友的破坏性影响的详细描述反映了与PTSD相关的许多症状。受到“黑人生活问题”运动及其呼吁审查系统种族主义的致命影响的启发，本文为学者提供了一种方法，用于研究美国早期历史上反黑人种族主义与创伤之间的联系。