Angela Onwuachi-Willig, dean and Ryan Gallo Professor of Law at Boston University, discusses her scholarship project, “The Trauma of Resiliency” as part of the University of Houston Law Center’s 2026 Colloquium/External Speaker Series.
March 10, 2026—Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Dean and Ryan Gallo Professor of Law at Boston University, discussed themes from her ongoing scholarship project, “The Trauma of Resiliency,” during her presentation as part of the 2026 Colloquium/External Speaker Series hosted by the University of Houston Law Center. Her research focuses on group-based, intergenerational trauma that Black communities endure as a result of certain traditions and practices that Black people have developed to ensure the survival of their children in the face of racialized police and quasi-police violence and systemic injustice.
Central to her project is an exploration of “the talk”— the conversation that Black parents have long given to their children about navigating encounters with police. Presented as an act of love and protection designed to enable resiliency among Black children, Onwuachi-Willig noted that “the talk” has also become a vehicle for the involuntary intergenerational transfer of trauma, a trauma, to both parents and children, caused by the real need to prepare Black children for the realities ahead of them. Onwuachi-Willig explained that Black parents are forced to strip away their children’s innocence and childhood prematurely through “the talk” to ensure their progeny’s survival.
“The talk is really advice that young Black people are given about what they should do or not do if they are stopped by the police. It's passed down in families, generation by generation. And it's designed to prepare people to survive a police encounter,” she said.
She situates this concept within a broader history of cautionary tales that elders share with children to prepare them for the harsh realities of being Black in an anti-Black society— from stories about Emmett Till to narratives about contemporary victims of racial violence like Latasha Harlins or Trayvon Martin. As she explained, Black parents often use these cautionary tales to prepare their children for dangers that the legal system has repeatedly failed to prevent or remedy. These stories, she said, help shape a communal consciousness around vulnerability and injustice, contributing to what sociologists identify as cultural trauma— a shared, collective imprint left by repeated, publicly mediated harm.
“It [the talk] illustrates the methods of resilience that Black people have had to develop in the United States in response to the devaluation of Black life, both within the legal system and outside of the legal system,” Onwuachi-Willig added.
With this context, she introduced the concept of the “trauma of resiliency” as the idea that such resiliency itself, often celebrated as a strength, comes at a psychological and group-based emotional cost.
Onwuachi-Willig shared a statement from one of her interviewees, a mother and Black lawyer, who recalls their own psychological trauma of watching police video recordings:
“It's like the destruction of black people; you can only watch so much of that. It sticks to you. I know what the reality is, but watching it over and over again, it's traumatizing every time,” she said. “It could be me. It could be my family member. It could be a family member. It’s upsetting.”
She concluded her presentation by identifying four conditions necessary for the trauma of resiliency to emerge: longstanding systemic oppression, widespread adoption of protective behaviors, involuntary transfer of trauma within families, and societal privilege that allows others to remain unaware of these burdens.
Onwuachi-Willig’s scholarship primarily focuses on anti-discrimination law, family law, and more. She is the author of “According to Our Hearts: Rhinelander v. Rhinelander and the Law of the Multiracial Family” (Yale 2013). Her articles have appeared in leading law journals such as the Yale Law Journal, Harvard Law Review, Columbia Law Review, Texas Law Review, Houston Law Review, and Vanderbilt Law Review, to name a few.
“What feels most and especially striking to me about her work, which has sometimes been described as ahead of its time, is that it has become an essential lens for understanding the moment we find ourselves in right now”, said Professor Lonny Hoffman, co-organizer of the series with Professor Emily Berman. “At a time when many are grappling with political and institutional exhaustion, her work helps us see more clearly the heavy costs of law's routines.”
The University of Houston Law Center 2026 Colloquium/External Speaker Series, held January to April, brings together leading legal scholars from across the country to present their works in progress that foster scholarly dialogue. This year’s series is unique in that it features all law deans. To keep up with the Colloquium Series, click here.
