For countless people, color is the most outward manifestation of race. Race has historically played an important role in shaping identity due to America's history of slavery. Slavery has a traumatic past which is shown in the legacy left by Harriet Jacobs, in her slave narrative titled "Accidents in the Life of a Slave Girl." In this novel there are many examples where race can be seen as a “traumatic experience” in both physical and psychological terms. In Frantz Fanon's story “Black Skin White Masks” he talks about his various life experiences as an educated black man who is highly qualified, but still receives bad treatment from white people. Similarly, Malcolm X was a highly educated black man but still received poor treatment due to his race. Malcolm X, Frantz Fanon, and Harriet Jacobs perceive race as something that inflicts trauma on the black body regardless of civil temperament. African history has been suppressed, which has resulted in distress and victimization of people of color. In the essay “Black Skin White Masks” Frantz Fanon speaks of the ideology of “race” as a traumatic event. Fanon was also a persistent critic of “whiteness.” That said, in his essay he also criticizes the fact that he wants to be seen as a gentleman, however in the Caucasian world he lives in, his skin color turns out to be everything. His race is more significant than his education, his achievements, and even his successes. Fanon believes that white people are irrational because they simply hate him for no reason. He is seen not as Dr. Fanon but as a black man who is a doctor: "I have been walled in: neither my refined manners nor my literary knowledge nor my understanding of... half the paper... that I use the police force to freely abuse African Americans. Harriot Jacob suffers horrific trauma due to her complexion and the fact that she is a slave. Reciprocally, Malcolm Works CitedGates, Henry Louis. "Life of a Hidden Slave for Seven Years." The Classic Slave Narratives. darkness." Black skin, white masks. New York: Grove, 1967. 21-37. Print. Gates, Henry Louis and Nellie Y. McKay. "The Ballot or the Bullet." The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. New York : W.W. Norton &, 1996. 159-64. Print.Ali, Noaman. "Malcolm X - Speeches on the Black Revolution." Malcolm 2000. Network. November 12. 2013.