Community Research Planning Project
| The first phase of this project will plan research studies focusing on the treatment of African Americans Slaves during the colonial, post revolution, pre and post civil war, reconstruction and the civil rights periods of the United States. The studies conducted by this research are not intended to excuse African Americans from personal, family or community responsibilities but will look for correlations between the long term severe conditions suffered by the ancestors of todays modern African American population and social inequality and health disparities all African Americans experience today. The data will be used to educate, redirect existing programs to yield better solutions and develop new programs to help improve the quality of life for all African Americans. |
| Research Team |
Dr. Andrea Velox, PhD
Dr. Andrew James, J.D., Dr. P.H.
Dr. Ellsworth James, PhD
Dr. Hugh Starks, M.D.
Dr. Andrew James, J.D., Dr. P.H.
Dr. Ellsworth James, PhD
Dr. Hugh Starks, M.D.
| Partnership in Research A National Institute of Health R01 Research Planning Proposal Shiloh Community Development, Inc, and James, Velox & James have partnered to plan a R01 research grant to be submitted to the National Institute of Health. The proposed two year planning grant will be the first phase in a Social Research Project addressing health disparities and inequality in African American communities. |
1619 Africans that had been illegally imprisoned and transported to American colonies are given the legal status of property or chattel and eventually judged slaves for life based purely on the color if there skin. While African American slaves were clearly human beings, the legal system, government elected officials and a pervasive social education campaign lasting two centuries, continually informing all Americans that the social structure indicating that enslaved and tortured African American slaves was moral, legal and correct. |
| 1800 New minority populations with intact cultures continue to arrive in the United States and adopted American social systems and practices and thought patterns of the dominant population in order to be accepted as good and productive citizens of their new host country. |
1900 Discrimination of African Americans becomes ingrained in the collective American social culture and often is not recognized as discrimination. Federal laws have been amended to include the African American population in the U.S constitution, but antiquated social systems, overt and innate prejudice and perceptions of prejudice imped the way to healing, and cultural recovery. |
| Disparities in health status have increased in the United States in the last 50 years despite remarkable advances in our ability to prevent, diagnose and treat disease. The poor are the least likely to have benefited from progress in medicine, but economic status does not account completely for these disparities. Even when income and related variables are controlled for, the health status of African Americans ranks lower than that of whites on numerous measures. The reasons for this pattern include unequal quality of health care, education, employment, housing, and nutrition. Despite numerous studies that demonstrate the overriding importance of racial discrimination and poverty as the major contributors to health disparities, several recent statements have suggested that genetic research holds considerable promise in the campaign against health disparities. |
There is no one cause for health and social disparities experienced by African Americans. Today’s
issues are the legacy of all African Americans related to the first Africans brought to colonial America.
The above conditions are responsible for the status quo of African Americans today and facilitate the
succession of coping skills necessary for our survival.
issues are the legacy of all African Americans related to the first Africans brought to colonial America.
- Abrupt change of diet, then long periods of mal-nutrition. (Nutritional)
- The extreme stress of continuous torture and refugee camp living conditions
- Stockholm syndrome like trauma bonding (Emotional/Psychological)
The above conditions are responsible for the status quo of African Americans today and facilitate the
succession of coping skills necessary for our survival.
| Health Social and Economic Disparities are part of an established cycle |
| Research studies indicate that health disparities are the result of intergenerational or historical trauma, which has a layering effect and is the “cumulative emotional and psychological wounding over the life span and across generations, emanating from massive group trauma |
| POOR HEALTHCARE STATISTICS |
| SOCIAL INEQUALITY |
| ECONOMICS |
| The 13th, 14th and 15th amendments assured African Americans constitutional rights, but the mindset of America did not change and discrimination in housing, employment, finance and community services is common place. |
Even after slavery officially ended in 1865, the Jim Crow and Black
Codes political environment effective through the late 1950’s and
early 1960’s kept African Americans out of the economic
mainstream, effectively locking African Americans out of economic
opportunity.
Codes political environment effective through the late 1950’s and
early 1960’s kept African Americans out of the economic
mainstream, effectively locking African Americans out of economic
opportunity.
| The scientific community has accepted the theory of intergenerational or historical trauma and the question now is what can be done. The federal government through the National Institute of Health has embarked on an aggressive campaign to make significant progress in health disparities by the year 2010. It is up to independent research and African American community organizations to take an active part in investigating our past to develop better solutions that will address health and social inequality and raise the quality of life for all African Americans. |
| Time line and Statement of Problem |
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