Soul Murder and Generational Trauma

Ryan Walker-Hartshorn

Professor Alyson Hobbs

History 54N

January 15, 2017

Blog Post 2: Soul Murder

Dearest Mr. Painter,

            After finishing your piece, Soul Murder I thought back to my childhood and my relationship with my mother. She was extremely strict, very hard on me and had no problem slapping me, grabbing me or pinching me if I was being disobedient. I have never thought about my experience through a historical and psychological lens and I want to thank you for writing Soul Murder because it has helped me to make sense of my relationship and my interactions with my mother.

            When you discussed this idea of an intergenerational effect of child beating I couldn’t help but agree with you. While my mother and I don’t always agree or get a long we are still are very close. She recently introduced the idea of generational psychological trauma to me and believes that the depression and anxiety we experience as black women is a derivative of the pain and suffering experienced by our ancestors. I’ve always admired this antidote, however it wasn’t until after reading Soul Murder that the idea of generational trauma truly resonated with me. I believe that our ancestors have passed down survival tools to us over the course of many generations. These tools can be but are not limited to how we approach a new environment, interact with new people and raise our children. Throughout colonization and slavery, our ancestors have experienced unbelievable assaults to the human body and were forced to find coping mechanisms. I believe that one of these strategies is the intergenerational effect of child beating. Like you said, a master and a parent have different motives but the same end goal, obedience. An enslaved mother was fearful of being dispossessed of her children. Today these motives manifest themselves in the fear of losing one’s child to state violence. In reflecting back on my relationship with my mother she trained me into becoming obedient so that I wouldn’t run into trouble in various institutions such as in school or in the workforce.

            I cannot wait to share Soul Murder with my mother and I want to thank you for helping me to better understand my psychological trauma by connecting the dots back to my ancestors.

-Ry