ABSTRACT
Depression as defined by psychologists generally involves quitting or giving up. Feeling that present conditions and future possibilities are intolerable, the depressed person 'goes on strike' from life, doing less and less, and losing interest in people, work, hobbies, and so on. Such depression is strongly linked with cancer. Although depressed black females may completely withdraw in private life, in the public realm we will often continue to present a mask of 'normalcy' even when we know we are suffering life-threatening blues. In black life, suicide, like so many other illnesses and behaviors related to the realm of psychological breakdown, tends to be seen as the gesture of a 'weak' person. Dying is a precondition for living. With keen long-lasting insight, the ancestors were wise to teach us that 'a body that knows how to die well will know how to live well.
