Rape of black women was not a crime under slavery law

Evidence

Rape meant, by definition, rape of white women, for no such crime as rape of a black woman existed at law. Even when a black man sexually attacked a black woman, he could only be punished by his master; no way existed to bring him to trial or to convict him if so brought. — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 108

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the legal erasure of Black women’s personhood that hooks develops as a core ideological claim. — connects to: Rape of black women was ignored because they were seen as sexually permissive; Rape of enslaved women functioned as institutionalized terrorism, not lust — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 78; Devaluation of black womanhood licensed exploitation and prostitution — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 195 (+3 more)

Related

• Historians have normalized and minimized the rape of enslaved black women. (similarity 0.89)
• Rape of black women was ignored because they were seen as sexually permissive (similarity 0.88)
• Rape of enslaved black women devalued black womanhood beyond slavery’s end. (similarity 0.88)
• Rape of enslaved women functioned as institutionalized terrorism, not lust (similarity 0.86)
• Institutionalized sexism protected black male sexuality while legitimizing black female assault (similarity 0.85)
• Labeling black women as sexual savages enabled their rapes by denying their humanity. (similarity 0.85)
• Devaluation of black womanhood licensed exploitation and prostitution (similarity 0.84)
• Sexual exploitation dehumanized black women more than labor exploitation did (similarity 0.83)
• Black women bore the brunt of slave-ship terror because they could not retaliate (similarity 0.83)
• Nineteenth-century sexual morality taught mistresses to blame enslaved women for rape (similarity 0.83)
• Abolitionists who condemned rape still blamed enslaved women as accomplices. (similarity 0.83)
• Sexism made the black female slave’s lot harsher than the male’s (similarity 0.82)
• Sexism and racism were twin oppressive forces in black women’s slave experience (similarity 0.81)
• Sexual exploitation of black women continued and was institutionalized after slavery. (similarity 0.81)
• Hypersexuality stereotypes justify sexual assault of black and Latina women (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Rape of black women was ignored because they were seen as sexually permissive #expands (0.80)
• Institutionalized sexism protected black male sexuality while legitimizing black female assault #expands (0.70) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 66
• Devaluation of black womanhood licensed exploitation and prostitution #expands (0.60) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 195
• Rape of enslaved women functioned as institutionalized terrorism, not lust #qualifies (0.40) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 78