Trauma and Resilience in American Indian and African American Southern History

Trauma and Resilience in American Indian and African American Southern History explores the dual process of a refusal to remember, that is, the force of active forgetting, and the multiple ways in which Native Americans and African Americans have kept alive memories of conquest and enslavement. Complex narratives of loss endured during the antebellum period still resonate in the current debate over sovereignty and reparations.
Remembrances of events tinged with historical trauma are critical not only to the collective memories of American Indian and African American communities but, as public health research forcefully demonstrates, to their health and well-being on every level. Interdisciplinary dialogue and inquiry are essential to fully articulate how historical and contemporary circumstances have affected the collective memories of groups. Until recently, Southern whites have (nostalgically or dismissively) remembered American Indian and African American historical presence in the region. Their recollections silence the outrages committed and thus prevent the healing of inflicted trauma. Efforts of remembrance are at odds with intergenerational gaps of knowledge about family history and harmful stereotyping.

Anthony S. Parent Jr. received his PhD in history from UCLA. He is Professor of History and American Ethnic Studies at Wake Forest University. His scholarly focus areas are African America, colonial America, and the history of sexuality. His current research includes the transformation of Virginia slave society, a history of slave rebellion, and African American service during the American Revolution. He serves on the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts Advisory Board, where he is assisting in the interpretation of rooms where Harriet Jacobs lived. Parent is author of Foul Means: The Formation of a Slave Society in Virginia, 1660-1740 and co-author (with Ronald L. Heinemann, John G. Kolp, and William G. Shade) of Old Dominion New Commonwealth: A History of Virginia, 1607-2007.
Ulrike Wiethaus received her PhD in religious studies from Temple University. She holds a joint appointment in the Department of Religion and American Ethnic Studies and as Director of Religion and Public Engagement in the Department of Religion at Wake Forest University (WFU) as well as the Shively Faculty Fellowship (2010-2012). Her research interests focus on the history of Christian spirituality with an emphasis on gender justice and political history, and, most recently, historic trauma and the long-term impact of U.S. colonialism. Wiethaus has won several awards for her teaching, including the Innovative Teaching Award (with Gillian Overing, WFU 2008), the Presidential Library Grant (with Mary Scanlon, WFU 2008), and the Entrepreneurship and Liberal Arts Award for Local Community Involvement and Outreach (WFU 2007). She has also directed, produced, and co-produced documentaries.