Surviving the Silence: Black Women's Stories of Rape [Hardcover]

Charlotte Pierce-Baker (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0393046613 | ISBN-13: 978-0393046618 | Publication Date: September 1998 | Edition: 1

Charlotte Pierce-Baker weaves together the accounts of black women who have been raped and who have felt that they had to remain silent in order to protect themselves and their race. The book opens with the author's own account of being raped in her middle-class home outside Philadelphia. It continues, telling of the author's family's response, the ordeal of going to court and the desperate attempts of the members of the family to mend their lives. In the course of her work as a volunteer for Women Organized Against Rape, Pierce-Baker collected stories of other rape victims. The middle section of the book provides the testimonies of ten "silent survivors" - women who were sexually molested by male relatives during childhood, subjected to "acquaintance rape" or, like the author, assaulted by strangers. The final section gives voice to men who have supported the women they love who have been raped. These narratives are combined to tell of black women's survival after sexual violence.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In Surviving the Silence, Charlotte Pierce-Baker provides a space for survivors to discuss the unthinkable act of rape. Pierce-Baker, a survivor herself, places rape within a historical and cultural context, explaining the shroud of silence that surrounds it within the black community. She allows women to speak about their experiences as informed by their race and gender identities, weaving together their stories with her own. In her gripping introduction, Pierce-Baker writes, "For black women, where rape is concerned, race has preceded issues of gender. We are taught that we are first black, then women.... Black women have survived by keeping quiet, not solely out of shame, but out of a need to preserve the race and its image. In our attempts to preserve racial pride, we black women have often sacrificed our souls."

Pierce-Baker's careful inclusion of many voices fills the silence and demonstrates how little has been said until now about black women's experience with sexual assault. Some stories feel incomplete because the narrator is unwilling to speak; the silence becomes palpable in these stories, demonstrating the isolating silence for these women and for other survivors. Surviving the Silence breaks ground by voicing, poignantly and sometimes painfully, the perspectives of the survivors and also their loved ones, as Pierce-Baker creates a space for the fathers, husbands, and male friends to speak. The book's unique discussion of black women's survival experiences supplies a rich addition to the existing dialogue of sexual assault. --Amy Wan

From Publishers Weekly

In 1981 two men broke into the author's Philadelphia home and took turns raping her while holding her husband and her nine-year-old son at gunpoint. The intruders left after tying up the family and robbing them of all their valuables. In this devastating memoir, Pierce-Baker describes the psychological damage that was done to her and her family as a result of these crimes as well as her difficulty in dealing with her anger over the fact that the rapists were, like her, black. The author contends that there is a stigma attached to black-on-black rape that intimidates its victims into silence. In the course of her work as a volunteer for Women Organized Against Rape (WOAR), Pierce-Baker collected the stories of other rape victims and provides here the powerful testimonies of 10 black "silent survivors"AAfrican American women who were sexually molested by male relatives during childhood, subjected to "acquaintance rape" as teenagers or adults or, like the author, assaulted by strangers. She also includes haunting narratives of black men related to the rape survivors, such as Pierce-Baker's husband and her father, who, she notes, struggle for the best way to support the women they love. Although the author helped to convict one of her rapists, she believes that her own healing and that of other victims will come from sharing their stories. An important inquiry into a too often overlooked crime. Agent, Jane Dystel.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 284 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc; 1 edition (September 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393046613
• ISBN-13: 978-0393046618
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,419,741 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful, haunting, essential, August 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Surviving the Silence: Black Women's Stories of Rape (Hardcover)

This is one of the most important books I have read in my struggle to recover from the harrowing effects of rape. I have found several books on this topic, but this is the first that addresses my specific needs as a Black woman trying to heal from sexual violence. Charlotte Pierce-Baker and her fellow witnesses are people of immense courage who offer hope and strength to other survivors and their loved ones everywhere. I highly recommend this book to all members of the Black community. It's fluidly written, carefully structured and filled with painful truths and hard-earned wisdom about individual and communal healing. If you want to share your own story of survival and healing or to discuss this book, please join me in one of these online forums: Black Survivors of Sexual Assault Forum (Delphi) and Black Rape Survivors (Yahoo). Feel free to contact me for more information.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended to anyone who cares about young people, August 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Surviving the Silence: Black Women's Stories of Rape (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful, well-written, honest book. I especially appreciated the author's inclusion of the voices of young people and of adults who were raped when they were young. Most rape in the US happens to people under the age of 25, so these voices need to be heard! I am strongly recommending this book to everyone I know who works against sexual assault. The author's openness about her own experience over time is very helpful and moving. She indicates that some parts were written years before other parts. There were places where I wanted to insist "don't blame yourself for that, the rapists are responsible for the fact that you and your family are dealing with this." This books adds greatly to our understanding of the long term impact of sexual assault.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST READ! We hear your silence - Loud and Clear!, August 13, 2000

By 

Sharon Simpson (Kennesaw, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Surviving the Silence: Black Women's Stories of Rape (Hardcover)

This book has helped me in ways too numerous to count. I have purchased copies for friends and recommended it highly to others. As African-American women we have the dual burden of sexual and racial violation. Our African-American men are suppose to protect us - not rape us! White men and society has been raping us for years and justifying it. Charlotte Pierce-Baker and the other survivors have laid the foundation of healing. From each of the stories I found Strength. I learned that I was not 'going crazy.' I learned that this inner turmoil of racial responsiblity, societial perceptions and the deeply embedded history of rape toward African American Women was not an uncommon pandemonium of thoughts. I listened and felt the pain and suffering. I discovered that the death of my former self 'REALLY DID HAPPEN' and this new Woman I have become must once again discover her strength. My strength. As my 1 year anniversary approaches, I am re-experiencing the symptoms. Yes, I am dealing with this unbearable pain, once again. But the worst part is over, because I survived! Loud and clear. I SURVIVED!

Also recommended: Can I get a Witness, Black Women and Depression; Yesterday, I Cried; Too Blessed to be Stressed; After the Silence;