From Slavery to Jane Crow to Say Her Name: An Intersectional Examination of Black Women and Punishment

“From Slavery to Jane Crow to Say Her Name” examines the ongoing social movement in the United States by Black women activists and intellectuals from as early as the nineteenth century to present day contemporary movements and campaigns such as Say Her Name, which began in 2015, which explores the the lives and experiences of Black women who have been victims of State violence. This discussion has been sweeping across the nation in an effort to address the plight of Black women who continue to lack social and legal protection in the criminal legal system (specifically regarding the punishment of Black women). The article highlights both legal and extrajudicial punishment of Black women, from the nineteenth century, directly examining state executions and the lack of legal protection, as evidenced by the courts response to resistance as an act of self-defense, demonstrating how Black enslaved women were punished in a way that illustrated a lack of validation of their womanhood, while concluding with an examination of violence against Black women, with scant attention and understanding of their experiences with police brutality An examination of a collection of ideas and speeches from nineteenth century Black intellectual activists Anna Julia Cooper, Fannie Barrier Williams, and Victoria Earle Matthews explores the ways in which these women used writing and intellectual activism to galvanize social movements for the Black community and Black women in particular. At the core of this discussion is an intense look at the relationship between Black women’s activism against social and legal injustices and the disparaging treatment of Black women within the criminal legal system.