Final Blog about the Racial Trauma Impact on Academic Outcomes of Black Female Teens

It takes families, friends, and whole communities to support and shift racial trauma narratives for healing to begin.

French and colleagues share some solutions that will take time for the community to learn, seek understanding, and apply to support all components of mental health, physical health, and overall psychological wellbeing of Black Female teens.

French suggests that education about racial trauma include the following components:

a). Critical consciousness and awareness of the needs of Black Female Teens

b). Radical hope in the midst of hard conversation and rebuilding of a community

c). Strength and resistance in the midst of communities that may not all be conscious of historical trauma

Cultural authenticity and self-knowledge honors generational family wisdom and cultural practices that lead to being proud of one’s racial identity.

It takes a community full of love and understanding to engage in conversations to empower each other to share narratives and build healthy dialogue about one’s racial identity and to address racial discrimination not only in families but across all settings of employment, faith, families, social community contexts, and organizations.

French, B. H., Lewis, J.A., Mosley, D. V., Adames, H. Y., Chavez-Duenas, N.Y., Chen, G. A., * Neville, H. A. (2020). Toward a psychological framework of radical healing in communities of color.