For the past couple years as we’ve recognized Black History Month in February, I have written articles celebrating the accomplishments of Black pioneers in mental health – people such as Dr. Joseph L. White, who developed the first-ever strengths-based evaluation of Black culture; Dr. Mamie Phipps Clark, who studied the effects of discrimination and racial identity on the psychology of Black Americans; and Lois Curtis, a Georgia woman with mental illness and cognitive impairment who fought all the way to the Supreme Court for the right to live in her community rather than an institution – and won.
But there is another, more complex story at the intersection of Black history and mental health, one that does not speak to a proud legacy. It is the history of racism in America. And even if you believe we have moved past that (which is debatable), there is no denying racism has impacted the mental health of generations of Black Americans, and continues to today.