Historical and Race-Based Trauma: Resilience Through Family and Community

Historical and race-based trauma (HRBT) is a cross-cutting, intergenerational source of adversity that rarely is included in categories of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Unlike ACEs, HRBT is adversity that is embedded intersubjectively in family, kinship networks, and community as well as in society; that is, its negative impacts are systemic, as are the intergenerational resilience strategies families and communities develop to counter trauma. Racial socialization is one such strategy used to build resilience and coping skills necessary to thrive in a culture of implicit and explicit racism, and when reconceptualized as a systemic process, also contributes to effective resistance against institutional racism. Articles in this special issue illustrate the importance of positive parenting practices, family dynamics, kinship networks, community, and Indigenous Theory through the narrative voices of formerly incarcerated women, refugees, immigrants, Indigenous people, and first-generation Latinx students.