“We need our own model for healing from the emotional legacies of slavery and racism. We need our own healers who have lived through the same experiences we have so that we get the validation that, yes, we have suffered emotional trauma as a result of racial experiences. For me, emotional emancipation is being free from learned helplessness and believing in our power to shape our destiny.”

Jill Marie Snyder is a lifelong resident of Connecticut. She has a B.A. in Urban Studies from the University of Connecticut and an M.A. in Communication from Fairfield University. Her journey to heal from the emotional legacies of enslavement and racism has included praying, reading, journaling, meditation, mindfulness, yoga, and participating in Emotional Emancipation Circles. In 2015, Jill published a family memoir based on her parents’ love letters, entitled, “Dear Mary, Dear Luther: A Courtship in Letters.”