Trauma, Trauma Everywhere: Race, Violence, and Pathology in the Study of American Slavery

Abstract: This essay discusses how the concept of trauma has evolved within scholarly circles and its impact on historians of slavery and emancipation. It considers whether trauma is a useful category of analysis and surveys its use among recent historical works relating to the legacy of slavery among Black communities. Despite a tendency to flatten historical analysis, the concept of trauma can be useful in charting both individual and collective responses to violence and its aftermath.