Intergenerational Trauma and the Stories That Shape Us

Have you ever wondered what long-term impact significant historical events have on future generations? Particularly for those whose ancestors suffered from atrocities like the Holocaust, slavery, or genocide, intergenerational trauma can leave children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren with mental health struggles that reverberate through time biologically.1,3

Storytelling, however, has been shown to shift the narrative on intergenerational trauma, offering an improved sense of wellbeing in the face of adversity. In one study, Black families in the United States who passed down stories of family trauma to adult children reported a positive impact on their overall wellbeing, for both parents and adult children. However, adult children also reported a sense of internal conflict, feeling connected to the stories imparted, but also burdened by them.2

Trauma can influence identity development, destabilizing existing identity commitments and impacting the resources a person brings to identity work. At the same time, a developed sense of identity can provide a lens through which trauma is processed, ultimately fighting posttraumatic stress disorder and promoting posttraumatic growth.

Passing down stories of resilience and strength in the face of insurmountable adversity and bolstering a strong personal and familial identity can help younger generations break free from the weight of intergenerational trauma.

Ebby Freeman, the main character in Charmaine Wilkerson’s latest novel, Good Dirt, embodies for readers the power of storytelling and identity in rising above intergenerational trauma. A powerful story of resilience, Good Dirt offers readers a seat at the Freeman family’s table, a place that feels warm, inviting, and safe in the face of life’s many challenges.

Charmaine Wilkerson explores themes of trauma and family resilience in her latest novel, Good Dirt.

Source: Sian Trenberth/Used with permission

In your latest book, Good Dirt, Ebby Freeman experiences a traumatic loss that impacts the rest of her life. What inspired you to write about trauma?

I began my professional life as a television news reporter and often found myself walking into people’s lives at the worst times. Often, they were grieving an unthinkable loss, and I would go home wondering how they would move forward in life with the pain they were carrying, especially once their personal distress had become news. I was interested in how the public gaze might amplify the impact of trauma and actually shape, or reshape, their identities.

I marveled at the way some individuals, families, and communities could thrive again despite all that. Because people do. They love and laugh and nurture children and live productive lives despite heartbreak. I have thought about this repeatedly over the years and one day, a fictional character simply popped into my head. That character became Ebby Freeman.

How do you think trauma shapes our identity?

I tend to think of identity as a kind of relationship that a person has with themselves. Trauma influences that relationship. In Ebby’s case, trauma shapes her identity in part because of the media attention, but not only. It also establishes her view of herself as the survivor of a family tragedy whose duty it is to protect her parents from further distress. She hides the full extent of her own pain. She sticks close to home even when she does not want to. She grows up to be the reserved, elegant, well-educated woman she believes they want. Ebby’s experiences also set her up for a conflicted relationship with the place she calls home.

How do the characters in your novel cope with the effects of intergenerational trauma, and what do you hope readers understand about trauma’s impacts through the generations?

Each character has a different reaction to trauma. They may hide their grief, or act on excessive guilt or worry, or strike out at others. But there is one coping mechanism that characters from different generations of the Freeman family have in common, namely, storytelling. The Freeman family uses stories about Old Mo, a stoneware jar from the 1800s, to transmit their history from one generation to the next and to process their own experiences. The jar also helps to share a fundamentally positive idea: If trauma can be intergenerational, so can the resourcefulness, love and humor that many of them have relied on to help them thrive, despite all. Also, storytelling helps people to find common ground in their experiences and build empathy. But the jar is broken on the very same day that their lives are shattered by tragedy, and it feels deeply symbolic to them.

The Freemans pass down a healthy, empowering cultural narrative to their children, shaping identity and emotional resilience, often through Old Mo. How does storytelling help us to overcome the effects of intergenerational trauma and move forward stronger?

Storytelling helps to reshape the narratives on which we build our identities, especially when it looks at how people thrive despite hardship and trauma. In the novel, the Freemans also put their own view of history front and center. At one point, Ebby’s father, Ed, says history often is told only from the perspectives of a few, when instead, it takes a chorus of voices to tell the story of how we have lived in the world. The history of the Freeman family emphasizes their love, support, and successes, not only their difficulties.

Intergenerational Trauma Essential Reads

"Happy Land": How Land Ownership Impacts Mental Health

Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma and Resilience

What did you enjoy most about the process of writing Good Dirt? Where do you see yourself in the story?

I enjoyed discovering books, articles and archival images that helped me to build the historical elements in this intergenerational story, especially scenarios from the past that don’t appear much, if ever, in fiction. Black seafarers from the 1800s and mass pottery production in the American South are two examples. When I write fiction, I tend to start from an emotion or a question and follow my nose into a scenario then use research to confirm or strengthen the plausibility of some ideas. But in preparing Good Dirt, I found that the research itself inspired me to introduce a few unexpected elements into the story. By the end of the process, I found it quite satisfying.

Charmaine Wilkerson's latest novel, Good Dirt, is set to release on January 28, 2025.

Source: Charmaine Wilkerson/Used with permission

What do you hope readers take away from spending time with your novel?

It is up to each reader to decide what they will take away from a work of fiction, but I do hope that readers of Good Dirt will find much to think about, including the transformative power of sharing stories. Also, this is not a story that looks only at trauma. This novel centers around a loving, playful and productive family. I had some fun with the Freemans, and I hope readers will, too.