Basically, it was the rape myth which served as state sponsored terror for the white men to blame their repressed desires on black male scapegoats.
Looking back at the clear lines that divided women in the class system of the antebellum and post antebellum south, we can see that public reaction to rape cases depended on the reputation of the woman claiming rape. Her wealth, or her husband's wealth, held more weight in deciding a verdict over actual evidence. Sad but true, this was the norm of the time and we can look back to such injustices in history to educate ourselves and make better judgments in present day.
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