unRedact the Facts Friday for Fri., Sept. 15, 2022: Rape, Call it by its Name
W hile it’s great to see people use social media to educate the masses on Black History, the authors must take care in how they tell the story. To the people managing these accounts:
Appreciate your service w/ these history lessons! However, historical narratives/storytelling that use the passive voice instead of the active and euphemisms are whitewashed, redacted, thus harmful.
Welcome to another #unRedacTheFactsFriday.
In the tweet above, African Archives shared:
Mary was sold to a man named Robert Lumpkin at the age of around 13 and was forced to bear children for him & help him run a slave jail in Richmond, Virginia. It was known as Lumpkin’s jail.
Upon the first read of “was forced to bear children for him”, it was difficult for me to determine if in fact I was reading about what I thought I was reading about: rape.
According to a WaPo article from 2020, Lumpkin raped Mary. Instead of stating “was forced to bear children for him” save words in this tweet, honor the truth about our ancestor’s traumatic experience by unRedacting the Facts and state “raped”.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/02/02/lumpkin-slave-rape-richmond-jail/
Another recent tweet/thread about rape during White people’s/European’s enslavement of Africans in the Americas:
Tweet (un)Redacted:
Robert Lumpkin, a White slaveholder, bought Mary who was approx. 13 at the time and raped her repeatedly, resulting in multiple children. He forced her to help him run a slave jail in Richmond, VA. It was known as Lumpkin’s jail.
Given how perfectionism is a dangerous tool of white supremacy that causes us to feel shame when we make a mistake, this might be difficult feedback to receive. Sharing this feedback publicly so that others know what not to do, to further more (un)Redacted history. Thank you.
Thanks for reading. (un)Redact the Facts is a program of wrkSHäp | kiloWatt, LLC, a Black woman-owned business that illuminates possibilities in architecture, historic preservation, and owner’s representation (project management). All rights reserved, 2022. Cite this source.