Legal impunity for rape directly produced enslaved wealth for white men

Evidence

The law allowed white men to profit from their sexual assaults on Black women. Freed from the worry that their mixed-race offspring had any legal claim to freedom, white men could rape enslaved women with total impunity, maintaining their domination while increasing their wealth. Their control over Black women’s bodies was key to creating a permanent labor supply. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 209