The Intersection of Racial Trauma and Black History Month
- Lisa S. Larsen, PsyD
- Feb 28
- 4 min read
As Black History Month (February) draws to a close, I’m reflecting on recent efforts to remove references to slavery, African American history, other cultural contributions, and DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) from public education, museums, and corporations. This trend toward “whitewashing” is alarming because it carries real political and mental health consequences for African Americans. Racism and erasure can contribute to racial trauma, psychological distress, internalized racism, feelings of invisibility, and higher rates of anxiety and depression—especially among BIPOC youth)[i]; fear, and hopelessness.
This post explores how African Americans can be impacted by this disturbing trend, and how you can resist succumbing to the negative effects of it. Meanwhile, I realize that much more could be said about this topic and I don’t claim to cover everything important about the topic, just some of the highlights.
Why does Black History Month matter?
When we acknowledge a people’s history and contributions, we honor them and affirm that we see them. Too often, African American history is reduced to slavery and its aftermath. While that legacy is central and devastating, it is not the whole story. This reductionism is a double-edged sword: we must not deny the profound harm of slavery and racism, but neither should that focus eclipse the beauty, depth, resilience, and joy of African American life.
We must pursue justice for the descendants of those harmed, while also recognizing the cultural influences that shape us all—music, food, scholarship, philosophy, the arts, and entertainment. Ignoring slavery distorts our history; focusing on it exclusively obscures the vast and positive contributions African Americans have made despite enduring injustice.
Black history education
Teaching children and adolescents of all racial and cultural backgrounds about African American history is important because it is a huge part of our country’s history. It might arouse feelings of guilt, shame, or discomfort in Caucasians particularly, because members of our racial group were the perpetrators of slavery and benefited from that and all the racial injustice that followed. That discomfort does not have to paralyze us with shame, however. It can inspire and motivate us to help dismantle racial injustice and to be conscious of how our actions impact others.
If you grew up in an area where learning about African American people (and people of color in general) was inaccurate or nonexistent, there are ways to get educated as an adult. Education has a way of sensitizing you to the plight of people who have been mistreated, oppressed, and exploited. Additionally, it's part of our history, part of all of us. Urban Intellectuals has Black History Flashcards that dig deeper than the main people we’ve heard about (Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcom X); their deck can be purchased here. There are also tons of books, calendars, and movies that can educate you.
Why does this matter? Because knowing someone’s story makes it harder to “other” or dehumanize them. Dehumanization enables mistreatment—war, exploitation, fearmongering, ridicule, and the minimization of people’s worth—all of which harm mental health and overall wellbeing.
In times of war, governments often emphasize differences between (white) Americans and those in targeted countries—weaponizing distinctions in culture, religion, language, and customs to implicitly justify large-scale violence. Similar tactics have been used against African Americans for centuries. We must confront this history and reckon with its enduring and damaging aftermath.
What does Black history month have to do with mental health?
If you’ve ever been ignored, shunned, disrespected, or treated unfairly, you may have a glimpse of what it feels like to belong to a marginalized community. Many people share this experience, including those in the LGBTQ+ community, individuals with disabilities, people who are unhoused, and those from minority religious, cultural, or racial backgrounds.
Yet even these experiences cannot fully capture the compounded impact of intergenerational trauma from slavery, systemic racism, and community violence endured by African Americans in this country. The depth and persistence of that mistreatment and discrimination remain difficult for most of us to truly comprehend.
This multi-dimensional complex of pain and discrimination affects people’s access to healthcare (including mental health care), as well. For instance, one study[ii] showed that African Americans were more likely to be hospitalized for psychiatric reasons than Caucasians. Dr. Joy DeGruy and colleagues proposed that the history of slavery has a significant effect on African Americans to this day.[iii] Therapists and writers like David Archer, LCSW[iv] and Dr. Resmaa Menakem[v] describe how racial trauma lives in the nervous systems, bodies, and lives of African American people on an ongoing basis. It can be difficult to heal ongoing trauma, especially when you don’t know when you’ll be truly safe from victimization. However, we all do our best to live as fully and comfortably as we can in this messy, sometimes violent, and sometimes beautiful world.
So how do we heal while being aware of Black history month?
It’s easy to lose sight of what’s possible when you’re in despair, and believe that there’s not much hope for us as a country divided based on political beliefs, race, income, gender, and sexuality. It seems that there are macro-level interventions that could improve our society as a whole, as Ibrahim X. Kendi writes about in How to be Anti-Racist.[vi] And then there are micro-level practices, like somatic awareness and clearing out traumatic stress that lives in us in our thoughts, emotions, and bodies.
Each of us can practice everyday activism by speaking up for those who lack a voice or fear retaliation. If you are Caucasian or from another cultural background, commit to educating yourself and examining your own biases and racial assumptions so you can better understand your unintentional role in sustaining the status quo. Teaching your children and modeling respect for all people helps prevent racism from being passed to the next generation. You can also address systemic racial injustice by protesting, writing legislators, organizing in your community, and staying mindful of how your words and actions affect others.
At the personal level, meaningful change begins with awareness. Notice your emotions, beliefs, and physical responses to topics such as Black history and racial trauma. Approaches like Somatic Stress Release and EMDR therapy can help you recognize how racial stress is held in the body and release it safely and effectively. If you would like to learn more, please call me or click the contact button below.
