Rethinking Rufus: Sexual Violations of Enslaved Men, with Thomas Foster

Event Date: 

Monday, March 9, 2020 - 12:00am

Thomas A. Foster (Howard University) discusses his recently published book, Rethinking Rufus: Sexual Violations of Enslaved Men. Thomas' pathbreaking work is the first book-length study of sexual violence and sexual assault endured by enslaved men in America. Through an analysis of a variety of primary sources including interviews with the formerly enslaved, legal documents, early American newspapers and journals, and artistic representations of enslaved males, Foster complicates our understanding of slavery, of masculinity, of sexuality, and of the lives of enslaved men.