Historical Trauma: A Conversation with Community and Family

CWI is currently engaged in Community Conversations on Historical Trauma!

To sign up to host a conversation, email us at: communitywellnessinstitute@gmail.com 

Historical trauma refers to multifaceted and communal trauma experienced over time and across generations by a group of people who share commonalities such as ethnic or racial identity, association, or circumstance (Brave Heart & DeBruyn, 1998; Evans-Campbell, 2008). The events and experiences most commonly associated with historical trauma include slavery, the experiences of the American Indians after European colonization, and the Holocaust (Coyle, 2014). Danieli (1998) and Brave Heart (1998) put forward that historical trauma theory is comprised of three major constructs: the historical trauma experience, historical trauma responses, and intergenerational transmission of historical trauma. 

 The experiences of Black/African Americans, relative to historical trauma and its current implications are an important community health issue. Yet, healing beings at the community level as well!