The Truth Behind Rape and Race

Having carnal knowledge of someone against their will is the legal definition of
Rape during the colonial times. But was it always a crime prosecuted for every victim of
sexual assault? After a lecture from Professor Block in my Humanities Core Course, I
have learned that it wasn’t the case. Unfortunately, race mattered and still does in the
cases of sexual assault.
Why does race matter so much in rape? Is it because of the
Colonial Times and slavery. During the Transatlantic Slave Trade period,
many African slaves were raped multiple times by their masters and they
would have no consequences. I learned the horrible truth that the English
saw sex as part of ownership. To them their slaves can not consent to their
owner. The slave owners would rape women to instill fear in them. A way
of controlling them. It was also a way to make more slaves by impregnating African
women. Elizabeth Kennedy from Brandeis University wrote, “ The rape of enslaved
women also had a powerful economic justification: a child inherited the legal status of its
mother, not its father—rape thus became a tool for increasing the labor force”(Kennedy).
Slave owners would sexually assault their slaves without being charged. One
reason for this is that black people were not allowed to testify in court since
they were not considered a person. African slaves did not press charges on
their owners for raping them. I learned more as I read the Testimony of
Phillis, African American Servant, about becoming pregnant with her
master’s child, Pennsylvania, 1780. Phillis was a slave to Michael Hart who
consistently took advantage of her. Phillis describes how he would make her
go places with him to rape her:the field, barn, upstairs ,etc.. It was not until he
impregnates her that his wife finds out and puts an end to it. However, he was not
charged with rape but rather bastardy. He does not get punished for raping Phillis
multiple times, he gets punished for being unfaithful to his wife. I am in disbelief in the
way that African individuals were dehumanized.
You would think that justice would be served in same way for all races, but that is
not the case in today’s society. African American Women are still less likely to report
sexual assault. I wondered why, and one opinion is because of “centuries of neglect by
the legal authorities”(Kennedy). I would agree with the theory because I understand that
after many years of vulnerability it would be troublesome to reach out out for help and
expect a consequence for the perpetrator. When an African American women does
choose to report, her race impacts if the prosecutor presses charges. The race of a victim
even matters in the sentencing of the rapist. Kennedy describes a study that showed that
the “victim race affects the seriousness of the defendant’s charge and the severity,
location, and length of his sentence”. Why does race have to matter so much?

Works Cited

Block, Sharon. “Sexual Violence, Race, and Colonialism.” Humanities Core Course . 16
Apr. 2019, University of California, Irvine, University of California, Irvine.
Kennedy, Elizabeth. “The Feminist Sexual Ethics Project.” Victim Race & Rape | Articles
| The Feminist Sexual Ethics Project | Brandeis University,
www.brandeis.edu/projects/fse/slavery/united-states/kennedy.html.
D v. Michael Hart for Bastardy, Northampton County, Pennsylvania Misc. Mss. volume
(1778-1797), 1780, p.53. Historical Society of Pennsylvani.