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Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is an autobiography by a young mother and fugitive slave published in 1861 by L. Maria Child, who edited the book for its author, Harriet Ann Jacobs. Jacobs used the pseudonym Linda Brent. The book documents Jacobs' life as a slave and how she gained freedom for herself and for her children.
Brief Biography of Harriet Jacobs. Harriet Jacobs was a remarkable woman who was born into slavery in 1813 in Edenton, North Carolina, and died free in Washington, D.C., at the age of eighty-four.
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Harriet Jacobs was an American abolitionist and autobiographer who crafted her own experiences into Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself (1861), an eloquent and uncompromising slave narrative. Jacobs, who was born into enslavement, was taught to read at an early age.
- Early Years: Life in Slavery
- Freeing Herself from Enslavement
- 'Incidents in The Life of A Slave Girl'
- Later Years
- Legacy
- Sources
Harriet Jacobs was enslaved from birthin Edenton, North Carolina, in 1813. Her father, Elijah Knox, was an enslaved biracial house carpenter controlled by Andrew Knox. Her mother, Delilah Horniblow, was an enslaved Black woman controlled by a local tavern owner. Due to laws at the time, a mother’s status as “free” or “enslaved” was passed onto thei...
When Norcom found out about Jacobs’ relationship with Sawyer, he became violent toward her. Because Norcom still controlled Jacobs, he controlled her children as well. He threatened to sell her children and raise them as plantation workers if she refused his sexual advances. If Jacobs fled, the children would remain with their grandmother, living i...
An abolitionist named Amy Post urged Jacobs to tell her life story to help those still in bondage, particularly women. Though Jacobs had learned to read during her enslavement, she had never mastered writing. She began to teach herself how to write, publishing several anonymous letters to the "New York Tribune," with Amy Post’s help. Jacobs eventua...
After the Civil War, Jacobs reunited with her children. In her later years, she devoted her life to distributing relief supplies, teaching, and providing health care as a social worker. She eventually returned to her childhood home in Edenton, North Carolina, to help support the recently freed enslaved people of her hometown. She died in 1897 in Wa...
Jacobs’ book, "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl," made an impact in the abolitionist community at the time. However, it was forgotten by history in the wake of the Civil War. The scholar Jean Fagan Yellin later rediscovered the book. Struck by the fact that it had been written by a formerly enslaved woman, Yellin championed Jacobs' work. The b...
“About Harriet Jacobs Biography.” Historic Edenton State Historic Site, Edenton, NC. Andrews, William L. “Harriet A. Jacobs (Harriet Ann), 1813-1897.” Documenting the American South, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2019. “Harriet Jacobs.” PBS Online, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), 2019. "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl." ...
Feb 1, 2004 · 74,099 free eBooks. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself by Harriet A. Jacobs. Read now or download (free!) Similar Books. Readers also downloaded… In African American Writers. About this eBook. Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by volunteers.
- Harriet A. Jacobs
- Child, Lydia Maria, 1802-1880
- 1861
Harriet Jacobs [a] (1813 or 1815 [b] – March 7, 1897) was an African-American abolitionist and writer whose autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, published in 1861 under the pseudonym Linda Brent, is now considered an "American classic".
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Aug 23, 2011 · Incidents in the life of a slave girl. A slave-girl able to read and write in 1820’s North Carolina was something rare indeed. For this girl to go on and produce a book rated by many as the supreme slave-memoir was an unheard-of achievement. Being half-white and prettier than most, Harriet Jacobs’ natural place would have been up at the ...
