Policing black women’s and black girls’ bodies in the carceral United States

Abstract

This article, which serves as an introduction to this special issue, explores the relationship between white supremacy, carceral violence, and black womanhood and it examines the symbiosis of gendered violence enacted against black women by state agents and everyday white men using the 1910 trial of Bessie Banks. It also discusses the articles included in the special issue, calling attention to the authors’ essential contributions as well as briefly spotlighting a few areas in the historiography that would benefit from richer excavation.