Search results
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".
- 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." ...
- Nadra Kareem Nittle
Harriet Jacobs (born 1813, Edenton, North Carolina, U.S.—died March 7, 1897, Washington, D.C.) 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.
May 24, 2024 · John S. Jacobs was a fugitive, an abolitionist — and the brother of the canonical author Harriet Jacobs. Now, his own fierce autobiography has re-emerged. By Jennifer Schuessler, The New York Times — One day in 1855, a man walked into a newspaper office in Sydney, Australia, with an odd request.
People & Events. Harriet Jacobs. 1813 - 1897. Resource Bank Contents. It was not Harriet Jacob's nature to give up without a fight. Born into slavery, Harriet Jacobs would thwart...
Feb 15, 2007 · Harriet Jacobs is best known for her autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, edited by white abolitionist Lydia Maria Child, and published in 1852. Using the pseudonym “Linda Brent,” Jacobs tells the story of her life as a slave of a “Dr. Flint,” to whom she was willed as a young girl after her mistress died.
People also ask
Who was Harriet Jacobs?
What happened to Harriet Jacobs?
Where did Harriet Jacobs go?
What was Harriet Jacobs nature to give up without a fight?
Harriet Jacobs, author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, lived in Cambridge in the 1870s. As historians have documented (including during a recent History Café presentation), the boarding houses she ran provided a home for Harvard students and faculty, as well as a sense of community for her daughter Louisa and friends.
