There are some memories that photographs cannot capture.
A picture can remind us what someone looked like. A recording can preserve the sound of a beloved voice. But scent—scent has the uncanny ability to bring a person back into the room.
Sometimes all it takes is a single breath.
As a certified aromatherapist and yoga therapist, I spend much of my time exploring the relationship between scent, emotion, and well-being. Yet long before I studied essential oils or the science of olfaction, I understood something many Black families have known for generations: scent carries memory, legacy, and connection.
In Black communities, our stories have long been preserved through oral traditions. We pass down family histories around kitchen tables, at church gatherings, during reunions, and on front porches. Yet there is another archive that deserves our attention—the sensory memories that live within us.
Modern neuroscience helps explain why. Researchers have found that smell has a uniquely direct pathway to the amygdala and hippocampus, regions of the brain associated with emotion and memory. Studies have shown that scent-triggered memories are often more emotionally rich and enduring than memories evoked through sight or sound alone.
Author and herbalist Stephanie Rose Bird reminds us that African-descended communities have carried generations of botanical knowledge across continents, adapting plant wisdom for healing, protection, spiritual connection, and community care. In works such as A Healing Grove and Sticks, Stones, Roots & Bones, Bird traces how plant traditions survived enslavement, migration, and systemic attempts at erasure.
Many Black elders grew up in homes where healing often began in the kitchen, garden, or backyard. There might have been peppermint tea for digestion, eucalyptus steam for congestion, rosemary for remembrance, or cedar and pine used in seasonal rituals. These were not simply remedies. They were expressions of care, resourcefulness, and love.
As Black communities continue to redefine what aging looks like, there is an opportunity to expand how we think about preserving legacy. We often focus on photographs, family trees, and oral histories. Yet perhaps we should also consider the scents that tell our stories.
Aging While Black challenges narratives of decline by centering contribution, wisdom, resilience, and legacy. In that spirit, I see scent not as a reminder of what is gone but as a celebration of what remains. The lessons remain. The traditions remain. The love remains. Sometimes they arrive on the wings of a familiar fragrance drifting through the air. And when they do, our elders remind us that their legacy lives within us—one breath at a time.
Contributor Bio
Sherry Steine is a certified aromatherapist, yoga therapist, wellness educator, and host of the Aligned Expressions podcast. Through her work with midlife and older adults, she explores the intersections of scent, memory, movement, and healing while honoring the wisdom, resilience, and cultural traditions of Black communities.
Selected Sources
Bird, Stephanie Rose. A Healing Grove: African Tree Remedies and Rituals for Body and Spirit.
Bird, Stephanie Rose. Sticks, Stones, Roots & Bones: Hoodoo, Mojo, and Conjuring with Herbs.
Herz, Rachel. The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell.
Harvard Medical School. The Connections Between Smell, Memory, and Health.
Woo, C.C., Leon, M., & Yassa, M.A. Overnight Olfactory Enrichment Improves Memory and Modifies the Uncinate Fasciculus in Older Adults. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2023.