The end of the American Civil War offered emancipated African American women the right to bring rape charges against white men for the first time, leading to an escalation in disclosures of sexual violence. In this lecture, History Ph.D. student Elizabeth Barnes considers lessons from this wave of revelations for the modern day #MeToo movement and explores how the pattern of progress followed by sustained backlash continues to be felt today.

The prestigious Fairbrother Lecture is an annual Graduate School event at which a Reading doctoral researcher presents their research to a wider audience.