Still the Arena of Civil War: Violence and Turmoil in Reconstruction Texas, 1865-1874

Chapter 12: “To Punish and Humiliate the Entire Community”: White Violence Perpetrated Against African- American Women in Texas, 1865–1868

327 CHAPTER 12 “To Punish and Humiliate the Entire Community”: White Violence Perpetrated Against African-American Women in Texas, 1865–1868 by Rebecca A. Kosary I mmediately following the Civil War, many former slaves in Texas found themselves at the mercy of whites—in their homes, their places of work and recreation, their churches, and even in the courts. For them, the “freedom” granted in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution was a far cry from reality. Although nominal rights for African Americans had increased since 1865, violence of against them increased as well. This was particularly true for black women, whose ambiguous legal status (ironically, now equal to that of white women) left them particularly vulnerable to racist violence that was often perpetrated against them with impunity. Freedwomen were subjected to verbal, physical, and sexual assaults, torture, and murder during Reconstruction and they received little or no protection from local and state authorities. In addition, as mothers and wives, black women endured the trauma of separated families, the forcible apprenticeship of their children, and the injury and death of family members at the hands of resentful, bitter whites. While black men certainly suffered vicious and deadly attacks by whites during the period , black women were, by virtue of their gender, peculiarly susceptible to racist violence, and doubly victimized—once as blacks and again as women. As victims of both racism and sexism, black women in Texas faced incredible obstacles in the transition from slavery to freedom. Brutal physical coercion had been used during the antebellum period by whites, whether slave owners or not, to exert mastery and control 328 Rebecca A. Kosary over human chattel. During Reconstruction in Texas whites continued and even increased the violence in an effort to hold onto their dominant place in society and to control and undermine the resolve of the newly freed black community. Black women were especially vulnerable to attacks , and although records reveal fewer incidents perpetrated against them than against their male counterparts, women frequently endured brutality that was most often implicitly or explicitly sexual in nature. Unfortunately , statistics from the period related to violence against women are limited, but the records of the Freedmen’s Bureau point to the fact that brutality against black women was intense during Reconstruction in Texas.1 Between 1865 and 1868, Bureau agents recorded over 2,200 violent incidents throughout Texas. Of these incidents, 13 percent involved black women as the victims.2 At first glance, Bureau records depict these incidents as mere violations of the law, but the listing of criminal acts alone obscures the motives behind the acts. Fortunately, Bureau entries also describe conditions and circumstances in many cases. From a careful reading of these circumstances, it is possible to glean insight into the extent of violence suffered by black women, and make some generalizations about the impact of this violence on the Texas black community as a whole.3 When emancipation officially made its way to Texas in June 1865, black men and women entered a period of social, political, and economic uncertainty. It became clear very quickly that a large proportion of white Texans had no intention of accepting black freedom and were determined to use every means available—both legal and extralegal – to restore white hegemony in the state. This had dire consequences for black women who were particularly vulnerable to physical and sexual threats with little legal recourse. While race alone established the perimeters of behavior and rights for freedmen, black women were constrained within limitations of both race and gender through law and social custom, and as a result, their lives were permeated with violence.4 Such seemingly senseless violence against women existed because, although newly freed black men clearly represented a potential political and economic threat, black women also represented a threat to the social order, albeit a more elusive one. In one sense, they were now equal to white women; both were virtually excluded from the political and juridical domains, while their male counterparts had such access. Physical and sexual violence against black women, thus, served a multiple purpose: it was used to reaffirm white dominance and control over black women, “To Punish and Humiliate the Entire Community” 329 and to undermine their legal equality with white women, further preventing the formation of relationships based on gender solidarity. The victimization of black women by whites also served to perpetuate the...