ABSTRACT
Black women in the United States have been and continue to be subject to extreme forms of private and state-sponsored discrimination and violence. It was slavery that first defined the legal parameters of access to the bodies of Black women and girls. Jim Crow and northern racism continued slavery’s degradation of Black women. And today, violence against Black women by private and state actors (police, teachers, health care workers, social workers, etc.) remains routine. And yet the term “victim” does not capture the nuance of Black women’s agency, perseverance, and political acumen during relentless suffering under social, economic, physical, and mental hardship. Black women as a group and as individuals have come to represent strength and vision in the midst of adversity. And so, given the troubling history of the law’s role in enforcing centuries of mistreatment of Black women, it is also appropriate to understand the contributions made by Black women in recent decades to significant definitional changes in laws prohibiting discrimination, harassment, and violence against women. This chapter will provide historical context for understanding the sexual exploitation of Black women, and it will examine the contributions of two Black women (Mechelle Vinson and Anita Hill) whose experiences led to the development and transformation of sexual harassment law and a more nuanced understanding of the role of sexual violence in women’s lives.
