Book Review: At the Dark End of the Street

BOOK REVIEW:

At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance--A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power

by Danielle L. McGuire

This book will not be for everyone but it should be a must read for every woman... women who have known the trauma of rape and, most especially, those who have not. While the book focuses on the injustices heaped upon black women in the south, it is also a treatise on how all women are treated when they accuse a man of rape. Be prepared to feel sick to your stomach! It is hard to accept that so-called human beings could be so cruel, especially when that cruelty is intentional and targeted against those who cannot defend themselves. 

As a survivor of domestic abuse and as the mother of a rape survivor, I felt a connection to all the women mentioned and the hundreds not mentioned who bravely fought for justice in a world that feared and hated them and at a time when they were seen as... well, in the south, they were not "seen" at all. Without these women who bravely faced a society mired in an outdated democratic mindset that labeled them as nothing more than animals... a society that considered equality a word without meaning, we would not be able to stand in the spotlight today and demand our attackers be brought to justice. 

Those who read this book will hurt in their hearts, but they will be oh, so much the wiser for feeling that hurt.