Many African American families suffered knowing that the people they loved would be mistreated, whether killed or verbally humiliated. James Brazier’s murder is one of the several lawless murders against black people in the Jim Crow era. One of the biggest consequences of such crimes committed against African Americans is Segregation Stress Syndrome (SSS).

The cause of this stress is heavily linked to racism, particularly the remembrance of slavery and the Jim Crow era. A key aspect of segregation stress syndrome is the underlying fear that you or your family could be killed or harmed without warning or reason. 

The symptoms varied based on the severity of the experience of the traumatic event, time of earliest exposure, the length and frequency of exposure, and the severity of witnessing a racial traumatic event. 

Survivors Exhibited:

• Fear, mistrust, and avoidance of those that inflicted the racial violence. 
• Avoidance of settings that trigger painful memories
  • Stores, water fountains, and buses 
• Hyper-vigilance 
  • Framed negatively by society as “black paranoia”
• Memories triggered by symbols of Jim Crow
  • Police brutality, voting restrictions, and lack of educational opportunities. 

Physical Symptoms

• Sweating, crying, trembling, emotionally upset when recalling the traumatic racialized events of the past. 
• Emotional numbness

In Comparison to PTSD

SSS can be compared to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) because both are outcomes of trauma and stress. However, while PTSD affects people in various ways based on the trauma, SSS is historical and collective. The trauma experienced by African Americans was as a collective group considering stress from the segregation period can be acquired by either seeing, discovering, or undergoing a traumatic event.