Broken Promises: Black Women, Sexual Violence, and the Denial of Justice in the Civil War

Summary

The Civil War is often remembered as a fight for freedom and union. Still, for countless Black women, it was also a time of unimaginable danger, betrayal, and silence. Broken Promises uncovers the forgotten stories of women whose voices were stifled, whose pain was dismissed, and whose search for justice was denied.

Through vivid case histories and gripping narrative, this book reveals how the courts, the army, and even the nation itself consistently failed to protect Black women from sexual violence. While white womanhood was fiercely guarded, Black women were left exposed, forced to endure both the brutality of assault and the cruelty of disbelief.

More than a history of crimes left unpunished, Broken Promises is a powerful exploration of resilience, truth, and the limits of justice in America’s most defining conflict. It asks difficult questions about whose lives were valued, whose suffering was ignored, and what freedom truly meant for the women at the center of it all.

Bold, unflinching, and deeply human, this book gives voice to the women history tried to erase, and forces us to confront the promises of justice that were never kept.