In this necessary book, Charlotte Pierce-Baker weaves together the accounts of black women who have been raped and who have felt that they had to remain silent in order to protect themselves and their race. Surviving the Silence opens with the author's harrowing and courageous account of her rape in her middle-class home outside of Philadelphia.

Including the stories of the author's own family's response, plus the voices of black men who have supported rape survivors, Surviving the Silence becomes a full chorus that sings of black women's survival.