Impactful Inclusion Toolkit

ACTIVITY 50Create the Future by Learning from the Past

“Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.”

—Sir Edmund Burke

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Our lives represent living history. We are derivatives of past experiences, human behaviors, and attitudes. Almost every aspect of our being was inherited from the past—from the language we speak to our cultural traditions to the religion we ascribe to our genetic makeup. If you have ever checked out your grandma's family photo album and realized that your smile is identical to an uncle that you never knew existed or that your body shape has a striking resemblance to your great-great-grandmother, then you've noticed your connection to history and how it transcends or even dictates the future. It's usually sheer delight when we recognize inherited personality traits and physical features, but what about the ones that cause us to struggle? We are now learning more about and discussing something else that can be inherited—intergenerational trauma. A post on Forbes.com shares how this relates to the Black community:

One major consequence of settler colonialism is the trauma that is passed down from generation to generation—what psychologists label as intergenerational trauma. The American Psychological Association defines this as “a phenomenon in which the descendants of a person who has experienced a terrifying event show adverse emotional and behavioral reactions to the event that are similar to those of the person himself or herself.” For ...