angela davis:

“in its political contours, the rape of the black woman was not exclusively an attack upon her. indirectly, its target was also the slave community as a whole.”

“in launching the sexual war on the woman, the master could not only assert his sovereignty over a critically important figure of the slave community, he would also be aiming a blow against the black man...”

“clearly the master hoped that once the black man was struck by his manifest inability to rescue his women from sexual assaults of the master, he would begin to experience deep-seated doubts about his ability to resist at all.”