Root Shock Book Launch

Root Shock Book Launch
November 9 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm EST
Join Dr. Mindy Thompson Fullilove as she launches the new edition of her seminal work Root Shock at the Hill House Association!
For more information, contact Terri Baltimore at 412-392-6479

“People who have been displaced experience “root shock,” the traumatic stress reaction to the loss of some or all of one’s emotional ecosystem. Root shock can follow natural disaster, development-induced displacement, war, and changes that play out slowly, such as those that accompany gentrification. The idea of “root shock” has helped people conceptualize both the prevention of displacement and recovery from it.

Root shock is a condition mirrored at different levels of life. At the individual level, root shock is the emotional trauma a person experiences when his or her environment is devastated, such as in events of natural disaster or military conflict. It increases the risk for stress-related diseases like depression and heart attack and diminishes social, emotional, and financial resources. At the community level, root shock is defined by the loss of interpersonal ties and the “capital” — social, cultural, political and emotional — that is vested in the collective connections.

Dr. Mindy Fullilove’s Root Shock focuses on the presence of root shock in African-American neighborhoods that experienced urban renewal. Based on case studies of three historically black communities–Newark, NJ; Roanoke, VA; and Pittsburgh’s Hill District–Dr. Fullilove also draws on residents’ personal memories, useful theories of person and place, and historical accounts. Root Shock is an account of the invaluable things that Black America, and America generally, lost to urban renewal, and a guidebook for anyone interested in their recovery.

Given that the Hill District has been such a crucial part of her work since 1997, Dr. Fullilove will be coming “home” to the Hill to read from this new edition. A book signing and light refreshments will follow and books will be available for sale.”

Root Shock Book Launch