It Was Like All Of Us Had Been Raped Summary

In “ ‘It Was Like All of Us Had Been Raped’: Sexual Violence, Community Mobilization, and the African American Freedom Struggle” by Danielle L. McGuire, McGuire begins her piece with a haunting tale of the rape of Betty Jean Owens, that really illustrates the severity of racial brutality in the 1950s. She depicts a long history of african-american women who refuse to remain silent, even in the face of adversity, and even death, and who've left behind a testimony of the many wrong-doings that have been done to them. Their will to fight against the psychological and physical intimidation that expresses male domination and white supremacy is extremely admirable. The mobilization of the community, and the rightful conviction of the 4 white men most definitely challenged ideologies of racial inequality and sexual domination, and inspired a revolution in societal

beliefs.

A careful examination of the sexual violence against african-american women in this piece reveals imbalances in the perceptions about gender, and sexuality shed that ultimately make the shift for equality and independence across race and class lines possible during this time period.

The sexual abuse of african-american women, and african women began with slavery, and can be noted as the first shift in inequality and lack of control over one’s own body. The psychological, and physiological construct of control is deeply rooted in history. Slavery, for example, was the physical dehumanization of another human being who was thought to be inferior. Psychologically, the act of physical constraint must have internalized ideas of social dominance. Especially, when slave owners, overseers, and drivers would take advantage of their authority and of their powerful positions to rape enslaved women. After the emancipation of the slaves, white men were no longer in control, and this generated a fear of equality with african-american

men, and equality for white and african-american women, and for independence of the people who once depended on them. People who are afraid may develop new weapons of terror to ensure that they remain dominate, regardless of social change, and assertions of perceived freedom. Also mentioned in class, and stated in Ida B. Wells “Race Woman," justification for raping these women was that they were “promiscuous," and because of their “deviant sexuality” they could never be assaulted or raped. This ideology does not allow these women to be considered “chaste” or “respectable," and instead makes them seem like an appropriate outlet for oppression. It should be noted for comparison that white women were seen as helpless, in need of protection from black men, and considered the opposite of black women; they were considered respectable and chaste. The rape of women like Betty Jean Owens is a testament to the historical, and persistent, desecration of african-american womanhood, and finally allowed african-american men, who had been depicted as “beast” and lacking manhood, to speak out against the oppressive white man to protect african-american womanhood.
The significance of verdict in the Betty Jean Owens’s case was imperative in challenging and overthrowing the oppressive ideologies that confined african-american women. Betty’s background as a chaste, educated respectable girl upset the foundation of white oppression because it was not reality. Common prejudices and stereotypes of black women, and even men, were partially overturned which strengthened feelings of self-respect, dignity, and freedom. The verdict in the Betty Jean Owen’s, and the unification of the black community helped ignite movements of civil change. The precedent set by this case changed the sexual dynamics between the races, and can be considered a significant victory towards equality and independence.