Post traumatic Slavery Disorder Dr Joy de Gruy Leary

Chains in Our DNA

Educator and author Joy DeGruy, Ph.D.,  is the woman who, 25 years ago, coined the PTSS term to help explain the consequences of multigenerational oppression from centuries of chattel slavery and institutionalized racism, and to identify the resulting adaptive survival behaviors. She turned her study into the groundbreaking book Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing, published in 2005. Researchers have long investigated how historical trauma is passed down through the generations, and findings suggest actual memories are transmitted through the DNA for Jews, Native Americans and other groups, DeGruy indicates. That same concept can be applied to the impact of slavery on African-Americans. 

 

PTSS differs from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which results from a single trauma experienced directly or indirectly. “When we look at American chattel slavery, we are not talking about a single trauma; we’re talking about multiple traumas over lifetimes and over generations,” says DeGruy. “Living in Black skin is a whole other level of stress.”

Read more at EBONY http://www.ebony.com/wellness-empowerment/do-you-have-post-traumatic-slave-syndrome#ixzz486GwmuwB 
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LARGEST AMERICAN SLAVE REBELLION

 

Listen to audio recording of Slave Rebellion in Louisiana

From Wikipedia: 

"A group of conspirators met on January 6, 1811. It was a period when work had relaxed on the plantations after the fierce weeks of the sugar harvest and processing. As planter James Brown testified weeks later, "the black Quamana [Kwamena, meaning "born on Saturday"], owned by Mr. Brown, and the mulatto Harry, owned by Messrs. Kenner & Henderson, were at the home of Manuel Andry on the night of Saturday–Sunday of the current month in order to deliberate with the mulatto Charles Deslondes, chief of the brigands." Slaves had spread word of the planned uprising among the slaves at plantations up and down the German Coast.

The revolt began on January 8 at the André plantation. After striking and badly wounding Manuel André, the slaves killed his son Gilbert. "An attempt was made to assassinate me by the stroke of an axe," Manuel André wrote. "My poor son has been ferociously murdered by a horde of brigands who from my plantation to that of Mr. Fortier have committed every kind of mischief and excesses, which can be expected from a gang of atrocious bandittis of that nature."

The rebellion gained momentum quickly. The 15 or so slaves at the André plantation, approximately 30 miles upriver from New Orleans, joined another eight slaves from the next-door plantation of the widows of Jacques and George Deslondes. This was the home plantation of Charles Deslondes, a field laborer later described by one of the captured slaves as the "principal chief of the brigands." Small groups of slaves joined from every plantation which the rebels passed. Witnesses remarked on their organized march. Although they carried mostly pikes, hoes and axes but few firearms, they marched to drums while some carried flags. From 10–25% of any given plantation's slave population joined with them.

At the plantation of James Brown, Kook, one of the most active participants and key figures in the story of the uprising, joined the insurrection. At the next plantation down, Kook attacked and killed François Trépagnier with an axe. He was the second and last planter killed in the rebellion. After the band of slaves passed the LaBranche plantation, they stopped at the home of the local doctor. Finding the doctor gone, Kook set his house on fire.

Some planters testified at the trials in parish courts, run according to French rules and without appeal, that they were warned by their slaves of the uprising. Others regularly stayed in New Orleans, where many had townhouses, and trusted their plantations to be run by overseers. Planters quickly crossed the Mississippi River to escape the insurrection and raise a militia.

As the slave party moved downriver, they passed larger plantations, from which many slaves joined them. Numerous slaves joined the insurrection from the Meuillion plantation, the largest and wealthiest plantation on the German Coast. The rebels laid waste to Meuillion's house. They tried to set it on fire, but a slave named Bazile fought the fire and saved the house.

After nightfall the slaves reached Cannes-Brulées, about 15 miles northwest of New Orleans. The men had traveled between 14 and 22 miles, a march that probably took them seven to ten hours. By some accounts, they numbered "some 200 slaves", although other accounts estimated up to 500.  As typical of revolts of most classes, free or slave, the insurgent slaves were mostly young men between the ages of 20 and 30. They represented primarily lower-skilled occupations on the sugar plantations, where slaves labored in difficult conditions."

THE ROLE OF ISLAM IN AFRICA FROM THE 7TH TO 11TH CENTURY

Map of Expansion of Islam in Africa

The importance of the influence of Islam in Africa is hard to overstate. Its influence spread from the North Africa down to the Zambezi River. Eventually many American slaves who practiced Islam were brought over from Africa. Many were literate. 

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From GENERAL HISTORY OF AFRICA III

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"(1) The Mediterranean facade of the continent, from the Isthmus of Suez to the Straight of Gibraltar, and adjacent Atlantic coast had been incorporated as an integral part of the Islamic world. It ceased forever to be part of the Christian world and even served as a starting point for further Muslim expansion in Spain and Sicily on the one hand and in the Sahara and the Sudanic zone of West Africa on the other
(2) In north-eastern Africa it had brought about the weakening of the Christian states of Nubia and Ethiopia, though neither of them was conquered. Whereas Nubia had come more and more under the economic and political control of Muslim Egypt and nomadic Arabs began to penetrate it so it eventually lost its Christian character, Ethiopia had survived as an independent political and cultural unit although it had to accommodate its external relations to the growing Muslim influences surrounding it.
(3) The Sahara and large parts of the Sudan had now to be linked through the trade network to an Islamic economic sphere in which their main exports--gold and slaves--played an increasingly important role. The religion and culture of Islam had penetrated along the trade routes, becoming gradually incorporated into the African ways of life
(4) In East Africa the role of international trade was controlled by the Muslims was similar with the important exception  that the Muslim merchants  had restricted their activities  to coastal settlements and Islamic influence did not penetrate into the interior. But the growing, in Muslim countries and India, for Zimbabwe gold and even seems to have led to some changes in the Zambezi region. Some parts of Madagascar and the Comoro Islands were also made a part of the great Indian Ocean commercial network"

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Other Sources
Islam and Africa webpage
Islam in Africa (Wikipedia) 

From Wikipedia, "Islam in the United States" 

Muslim Slaves in America

"Many of the slaves brought to colonial America from Africa were Muslims.^[4][5] By 1800, some 500,000 Africans arrived in what became the United States. Historians estimate that between 15 to 30 percent of all enslaved African men, and less than 15 percent of the enslaved African women, were Muslims. These enslaved Muslims stood out from their compatriots because of their "resistance, determination and education".^[6] 

It is estimated that over 50% of the slaves imported to North America came from areas where Islam was followed by at least a minority population. Thus, no less than 200,000 came from regions influenced by Islam. Substantial numbers originated from Senegambia, a region with an established community of Muslim inhabitants extending to the 11th century.^[48] 

Michael A. Gomez speculated that Muslim slaves may have accounted for "thousands, if not tens of thousands," but does not offer a precise estimate. He also suggests many non-Muslim slaves were acquainted with some tenets of Islam, due to Muslim trading and proselytizing activities.^[49] Historical records indicate many enslaved Muslims conversed in the Arabic language. Some even composed literature (such as autobiographies) and commentaries on the Quran.^[50]

Some newly arrived Muslim slaves assembled for communal Salah (prayers). Some were provided a private praying area by their owner. The two best documented Muslim slaves were Ayuba Suleiman Diallo and Omar Ibn Said. Suleiman was brought to America in 1731 and returned to Africa in 1734.^[48] Like many Muslim slaves, he often encountered impediments when attempting to perform religious rituals and was eventually allotted a private location for prayer by his master.^[50]"

Portrait of Diallo by William Hoare (1733) wearing his traditional clothing

Omar Ibn Said (ca. 1770–1864) is among the best documented examples of a practicing-Muslim slave. He lived on a colonial North Carolina plantation and wrote many Arabic texts while enslaved. Born in the kingdom of Futa Tooro (modern Senegal), he arrived in America in 1807, one month before the U.S. abolished importation of slaves. Some of his works include the Lords Prayer, the Bismillah, this is How You Pray, Quranic phases, the 23rd Psalm, and an autobiography. In 1857, he produced his last known writing on Surah 110 of the Quran. In 1819, Omar received an Arabic translation of the Christian Bible from his master, James Owen. Omar converted to Christianity in 1820, an episode widely used throughout the South to "prove" the benevolence of slavery. However, some scholars believe he continued to be a practicing Muslim, based on dedications to Muhammad written in his Bible.^[51][52]" 

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