White female abolitionists were motivated by saving white men’s souls, not black women’s welfare.

Evidence

Because their brother had fathered children by a black female slave, they were particularly concerned about the sexual exploitation of black female slaves. For many other white female abolitionists the sole motivating force behind their anti-slavery efforts was the desire to bring an end to sexual contact between white men and black female slaves. They were not concerned about the plight of enslaved black women, but about saving the souls of white men whom they believed had sinned against God by their acts of moral depravity. — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 80

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to hooks’s later criticism of white feminism’s self-interest and to the Ain’t I a Woman tradition (Sojourner Truth). — connects to: White abolitionists opposed slavery but never supported racial equality. — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 363; Adopting feminist rhetoric did not free white feminists from sexist-racist attitudes. — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 39; White abolitionists opposed interracial sex to save white men’s souls, not black women (+1 more)

Related

• White abolitionists opposed interracial sex to save white men’s souls, not black women (similarity 0.91)
• White abolitionists opposed slavery but never supported racial equality. (similarity 0.90)
• White women, not white men, were slavery’s most direct beneficiaries (similarity 0.84)
• Adopting feminist rhetoric did not free white feminists from sexist-racist attitudes. (similarity 0.82)
• Even white abolitionists could not imagine black people as equals (similarity 0.81)
• White feminists appropriated slave suffering to advance their own cause. (similarity 0.80)
• White feminists dismissed black women’s attention to racial difference (similarity 0.80)
• Enslaved women were no more sexually liberated than white women. (similarity 0.80)
• White women feared black women’s perceived immorality threatened their own status (similarity 0.80)
• White suffragists opposed black male suffrage out of racial hierarchy concerns. (similarity 0.80)
• White women already knew of their own sexist oppression before abolition work. (similarity 0.80)
• Black men asserted dominance over women to compensate for losing to white men (similarity 0.79)
• White male brutality toward Black women stemmed from patriarchal misogyny, not racism alone (similarity 0.79)
• White mistresses usually sided with their husbands against enslaved women (similarity 0.79)
• Slavery elevated white women’s social status above black people (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• White abolitionists opposed interracial sex to save white men’s souls, not black women #corroborates (0.90)
• Even white abolitionists could not imagine black people as equals #corroborates (0.70) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 53