“One of the beliefs that Black people have been taught about themselves is that as a group they could and should not trust one another. Sowing the seeds of distrust was an important tool employed by slave owners as a way of preventing slave uprisings. In some cases this worked so well that some slaves would even alert the slave master to potentially troublesome slaves. If slaves shared a general distrust of one another, they were less prone to unite against a common enemy, namely the slave owners.

However, there was a time when Black people would learn once again to trust an rely upon one another. This was during segregation, when Jim Crow laws legally separated Blacks from Whites, creating virtually two completely separate societies. Under Jim Crow legislation, the law allowed for segregation so long as the conditions for Blacks were equal to that of whites. Despite the fact that the conditions were rarely, if ever at all equal, Blacks managed to build a strong fortress of protection around themselves. The scars of slavery still lingered, but with the reconstruction of family and community the process of healing had begun. In some places, Black segregated towns excelled economically and socially even beyond the towns of their White neighbors.” -From, “Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome” By: Dr. Joy Leary