The First Published Rape Trial in American History
All Of It - A podcast by WNYC
The first published rape trial in America happened here in New York City in the 1700s, after a a seventeen-year-old seamstress charged a man with sexual assault. Author John Wood Sweet uncovers this little-known history in his new book, The Sewing Girl's Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America, which examines how this case laid the groundwork for rape cases to come.
