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Surviving the Silence: Black Women's Stories of Rape

NCJ Number
180522
Author(s)
Charlotte Pierce-Baker
Date Published
1998
Length
278 pages
Annotation
This book, written by a rape survivor, details the accounts of black women who were raped and who felt they had to remain silent in order to protect themselves and their race.
Abstract
The author begins by telling about her own rape in her middle-class home outside Philadelphia in 1981. After being raped and becoming aware of the immense proportion of rape, she started searching for other black women who had been raped. The author describes the immense proportion of the act of rape in stories of black female victims and of black men who have supported rape survivors. The stories are intended to help rape victims heal, despite the inability to make sense of the cruelty associated with rape and its long-lasting effects. In addition, the stories illustrate the extreme emotional and psychological suffering of rape victims and the responses of family members and police agencies. 66 references