Krug, Etienne G. et al., eds. Petrak, Jenny Hedge, Barbara, eds. The rape of a black female, by any person, was thought of legal. In the United States, just before and in the course of the American Civil War when chattel slavery was popular, the law focused primarily on rape as it pertained to black men raping white women. The Israelite, Persian, Greek and Roman armies reportedly engaged in war rape.