title: "There Were Rapes!": Sexual Assaults of African American Women and Children in Jim Crow.
abstract: Using data from 92 interviews, this article examines the narratives of African Americans' experiences as children and young adults during Jim Crow in the Southeast and Southwest. It gives voice to the realities of sexual assaults committed by ordinary White men who systematically terrorized African American families with impunity after the post-Reconstruction south until the 1960s. The interviewees discuss the short- and long-term impact of physical, mental, emotional, and sexual assaults in their communities. We discuss the top four prevalent themes that emerged related to sexual assault, specifically (a) the normalization of sexual assaults, (b) protective measures to avoid White violence, (c) the morality of African American women, and (d) the long-term consequences of assaults on children.
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Thompson-Miller
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Leslie H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Picca
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000266:history / Q000523:psychology*; D063947:Enslavement / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic / Q000379:methods; D015995:Prevalence; D063505:Racism / Q000266:history; D011902:Rape / Q000523:psychology*; D015144:Southeastern United States / Q000208:ethnology; D015206:Southwestern United States / Q000208:ethnology; D044465:White People / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history / Q000523:psychology
keywords: coping; rape; segregation stress syndrome (collective PTSD); sexual assault