1. Topic Proposal

During the Transatlantic slave trade, sexual violence against black women ran rampant.
With their lack of rights and the tireless abuse slaves witnessed, many were raped,
tortured, and forced fornication with the intention of birthing more slaves. Many
slaveholders who claimed to be Christian often contradicted themselves through the
ongoing abuse they inflicted on black, especially female, slaves. The discussion of
religious ideology and European enlightened philosophy should be taken into account
when considering the injustices many black slaves faced during the Transatlantic slave
trade. European philosophers and educators often placed their emphasis upon their
hierarchy in understanding and knowledge in the world, plaguing their values against
non-European peoples and inevitably viewing them as savages and uneducated. These
beliefs often led to racial and social divisions between black slaves and their often white
owners. Not only that, but the discussion of people as property developed even more
severe injustices black women often faced during their time in slavery. While many white
men of the time, including those who claimed to follow Christianity or enlightened
beliefs, sexually assaulted black enslaved women, those same women were left to
wonder whether or not the belief system these European men followed was completely
justified. Were these white men in their right to constantly abuse black and indigenous
women, or were their ideas on virtue and enlightenment a complete contradiction to
their exploitative actions? Authors Rachel A. Feinstein discusses the sexual exploitation
black women witness throughout slavery, Stephanie Jones-Rogers goes into detail about
the relationship between free white women and black enslaved women, and Octavia V.
Rogers Albert writes about her own experiences as a black woman in relation to others
and speaks on the connections between white Christians that inevitably abuse black
women.

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2. Sources

Feinstein, Rachel A. When Rape Was Legal : The Untold History of Sexual Violence
during Slavery. Editorial: New York, Ny, Routledge, 2019.

Author Rachel A Feinstein writes about the parts of enslavement that were often
overlooked; the sexual abuse and exploitation of black female slaves. She goes into detail
about the role of white men toward black women, systemic racism, and intersectionality.
Her two main points she goes over are how white women reinforced the abuse black
women faced, and how this kind of abuse fueled the masculinity and bravado of white
men. Her book discusses the original definition of rape (one revolving the idea of
property crime of a women’s husband or father) and the legality pertaining to the sexual
assault female black slaves witnessed. Feinstein further dives into the social and
economical changes that lead to the modern understanding of rape (in regards to it being
a violation of a person’s bodily autonomy). By using specific historical events seen
throughout the Transatlantic Slave Trade, Feinstein creates a clearer picture as to how

the experiences of modern black women correlate to black women during colonial
enslavement.

Jones-Rogers, Stephanie. “Rethinking Sexual Violence and the Marketplace of Slavery:
White Women, the Slave Market, and Enslaved People’s Sexualized Bodies in the
Nineteenth-Century South.” Sexuality and Slavery: Reclaiming Intimate Histories in the
Americas, edited by Daina Ramey Berry and Leslie M. Harris, University of Georgia Press,
2018, pp. 109–23. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt22nmc8r.11Links to an external
site.. Accessed 8 July 2024.

Chapter 6 of Sexuality & Slavery goes over the cruel nature of white women over other
enslaved black women. Jones-Rogers claims white women often economically benefitted
from the enslavement and abuse of black women and aims to distinguish the idea of
white women being passive, innocent bystanders of the oppression and exploitation
black women faced during the Transatlantic Slave Trade. She specifically mentions the
story of Henrietta Butler and her sexual abuse that was encouraged by her owner, Emily
Haidee, a white woman. In this account, Emily is seen explicitly and physically beating
her slave Henrietta in an attempt to establish her power over her. White women were
clear oppressors of black women during the legalization and practice of slavery by
showcasing their complicity to the sexual exploitation of enslaved women’s bodies and
often managed the purchase or inheritance of slaves, inevitably profiting off of black
women’s bodies as economic property.

Albert, Octavia V. Rogers, et al. The House of Bondage, Or, Charlotte Brooks and Other
Slaves: Original and Life Like, as They Appeared in Their Old Plantation and City Slave
Life: Together with Pen Pictures of the Peculiar Institution, with Sights and Insights into
Their New Relations as Freedmen, Freemen, and Citizens. NYPL Research Catalog, New
York : Cincinnati, Hunt & Eaton ; Cranston & Stowe, 1853-
1889, https://s3.amazonaws.com/nypl-
aaww/SCAAWW_book_1_The_house_of_bondage_or_Charlotte_Brooks_and_other_slav
es.pdfLinks to an external site.. Accessed 9 July 2024.

In Albert’s autobiography, she writes about her and other black enslaved women’s
experiences. Albert often mentions her experiences through a religious lens and
continuously comments on the philosophical and religious contradictions she faced as
she witnessed an onslaught of racial, economical, and social injustices. She questioned
the morals of many European and white people who frequently oppressed black
individuals yet claimed to be virtuous Christians. Albert’s written account is able to give
forth to the thought process of how Europeans justified slavery through social, racial,
philosophical, and economical means. Albert is able to provide a detailed story that
explored her life as a black enslaved woman witnessing the horrors of sexual violence
and simultaneously the ironic contradictions displayed by her white masters.

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3. Research Question

How are modern black women affected by the treatment female black slaves endured,
and what kinds of religious and philosophical beliefs contradicted the abuse many black
women faced while being enslaved?