In Honor of Juneteenth¹, a Book Review of "Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome"
Dr. Joy DeGruy by Nina Kennedy While in the midst of researching and editing my documentary film², I had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Joy DeGruy present a lecture as part of Fisk University’s Spring Arts Festival in Nashville. She was promoting her then new book titled Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome , and quoted several passages from the book during her presentation. The accompanying slide show contained several disturbing images, and fulfilled DeGruy’s intentions of making the gruesome violence of American slavery as real as possible. At the time, I did not purchase the book. But a dear friend who is pursuing a master’s degree in psychology sent me a copy of the book just last month. I couldn’t put it down. It has turned out to be one of the most important books I’ve ever read. DeGruy painstakingly quotes several of the “fathers” of the North American Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, and states that the European Slave Trade began as early as 1440. Up to that point, “…...