About book Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl (2001)
This book was first published in 1861 and reprinted in the 1970s. Scholars initially doubted it was written by a slave. Thankfully, Harvard University Press authenticated and published findings of the 1980s, and Jean Fagan Yellin, Harriet Jacobs' biographer, dug up proof of the authenticity of this autobiography through letters and documents. I only regret not having the 1987 Harvard University Press edition edited by Yellin. Jacobs seemed to anticipate the doubting Thomas, even as she wrote: I hardly expect that the reader will credit me, when I affirm that I lived in that little dismal hole, almost deprived of light and air, and with no space to move my limbs, for nearly seven years. But it is a fact; and to me a sad one, even now; for my body still suffers from the effects of that long imprisonment, to say nothing of my soul. Members of my family, now living in New York and Boston, can testify to the truth of what I say.Why the disbelief?Jacobs wrote under the pseudonym: Linda Brent, changing the names of the abolitionists and slave owners who had helped her. Legitimate reason for doubt. Jacobs' reason for changing the names, also understandable. Here's where it gets preposterous: Jacobs' prose was being compared to the male slave narratives. Instead of being in chronological order (hooray for the avid readers of contemporary creative nonfiction who find this cliche), hers was told according to vivid incidents in her life. Hint: the title. In addition, she seemed like the heroine of a romance novel, scholars said. It was just so unfathomable, that this woman, this slave, could have been chased in such a manner, by an obsessive slave master whose wife mistreated her because she was so insanely jealous of her. Why hide in such a place that resembled a coffin, for so many years, just because your master wanted you as his concubine? It all seemed unbelievable. Yet it wasn't. Jacobs' life was different than most. She was raised by a kind slave owner who educated her, gave her grandmother her freedom, and yet died before Harriet could get her freedom. She was of mixed race and had a father who also died before buying her freedom. She was never beaten, never saw hard labor, and raised with a keen understanding of the world: I was never cruelly overworked; I was never lacerated with the whip from head to foot…I never had my heel-strings cut to prevent my running away; I was never chained to a log and forced to drag it about, while I toiled in the fields…"When she ran away, this was the posting made by her slave owner: An intelligent, bright, mulatto girl…dark eyes, and black hair inclined to curl; but it can be made straight. Has a decayed spot on a front tooth. She can read and write. This is the second time I've read this account, but the first time I've captured it in its entirety. Slavery is something that never ceases to baffle me. How could my ancestors have been treated so cruelly, like mere animals, yet trusted with the food and babies of their "owners?" How could they have been viewed "unfit" as humans, yet fit enough to breastfeed their "masters' " infants? Reading this, I paused to consider the many black mothers who raised white families, because when you really consider the intimacy of breastfeeding, you know that black slave mothers were giving white babies the same nutrients from their body that they gave their black babies. They weren't good enough to eat from their "masters' tables, yet good enough to stick a nipple in their "masters'"mouths. The hypocrisy and irony. Speaking of intimacy, think of the act of someone leaving his "slave's" sex bed and entering his wife's sex bed. In the end, women as a unit, became the victimized.This is what Jacobs seems to imply here, with her themes of women as sex objects, and women as slaves who treated each other as slaves; the black woman and the victimized white woman as her "master." Most times you only hear about the crazed sexual acts but in this book, you see that at times, slave owners were in love with, and obsessed with their female slaves, even sometimes arranging for them to occupy the vacation homes away from the wives. What Jacobs does in this narrative is speak directly to the issues of women during slavery, (the wife, lover, and child) something that had not been done in previous narratives. This narrative also highlighted something important for me: The Fugitive Slave Act. Imagine a life of always being on the run from the law, just because you were demanding your freedom. Previously, slaves could always escape to the North and find refuge. With this act, their southern slave owners could go up north and seize them while they walked to church with their family. What an emotional roller coaster: Many a wife discovered a secret she had never known before--that her husband was a fugitive and must leave her to insure his own safety. Worse still, many a husband discovered that his wife had fled from slavery years ago, and as "the child follows the condition of its mother," the children of his love were liable to be seized and carried into slavery. I learned about the Fugitive Act in history classes but never truly grasped the meaning of it until reading this book. I'm just glad that for Black History Month, I could revisit this.
I recently read Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass and this book for a history class, to compare them, and see the difference between the point of view of a female and a male slave.The male perspective was more violent, I guess, with more descriptions of torture and punishment... and hatred. This one by Harriet Jacobs was not really like that. She had to endure many horrible things, but her descriptions were not really as tough. Douglass described to visualize them, Jacobs only kind of acknowledged them. She is, at times, in the attitude of "pity me", especially when she feels that something she's done was wrong, but didn't know better.Jacobs, as she started growing up, suffered terrible things. For starters, her master started looking at her as a woman, not as a child, if you know what I mean. He often would stare at her uncomfortably, make obscene gestures to her, whisper things on her ear, call her to his office for no reason, and tell her she was his slave and she would do what he pleased.Above all of that, a very unsettling thing is that she also had to deal with the jealousy of the mistress. It is well known that masters would sometimes go and abuse sexually their female slaves, and leave them pregnant. Those children, and the mother were a constant reminder for the mistress of the offense her husband made. Harriet's mistress was always looking suspiciously at her to find out if something was going on, there was a point in which she even went to Harriet's bed when she was sleeping, and started whispering dirty things on her ear, as if it was the master, to see if Harriet answered back.It made me think so much about the suffering of women in general. It must have been terrible for these white women, as well, to know this was going on, and be unable to stop it, to know that their husband just couldn't respect them enough as to avoid going after the slaves no matter how pretty they were. It was just a terrible situation for women.Despite all the calls from the mistress to get rid of Jacobs, the master wouldn't let her go. He had this obsession with her, telling her she was brilliant because she knew how to read, and beautiful, that even when someone wanted to buy her, he rejected the offer. She made attempts to try to free herself. She even got pregnant from another white man because she thought that way, the master would let that man buy her. But no... instead of that, he punished her psychologically, telling her that her son or daughter would only become one more of his slaves, and he could sell them, and separate them from her whenever he wanted to.Harriet Jacobs was a keen and very cunning woman. Her dialogs are sharp and witty, and all her experiences were extraordinary. It is a very insightful read.I didn't like that she sometimes described tons of everyday events, and made the story slow down, kind of like a diary. It gives some sort of sense of intimacy, but I just couldn't really like it. I would have preferred that she kept the narrative tighter, and to the point.Still a good read, with an interesting perspective about slavery.
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I have read a lot of true stories this fall about women who are oppressed. I think this one has affected me the most. This book is the epitomy of service and sacrifice given by a mother. A lot of the books I've read lately on this subject have occurred in other countries and I can kind of distance myself from the atrocities that take place. This book was about slavery in my own country and I am embarassed that this happened here. How could we be so ignorant and cruel and believe that it was ok?p. 16 "O, you happy free women, contrast your New Year's Day with that of a poor bond-woman . With you it is a pleasant season, and the light of the day is blessed. Children bring their little offerings, and raise their rosy lips for a caress. They are your own, and no hand but that of death can take them from you. But to a slave mother, New Year's day comes laden with peculiar sorrows. She sits on her cold cabin floor, watching the children who may all be torn from her the next morning; and often does she wish that she and they might die before the day dawns. She may be an ignorant creature, degraded by the system that has brutalized her from her childhood; but she has a mother's instincts and is capable of feeling a mother's agonies."I think because she was a mother and had no rights to her children that I could empathize with her and relate to those feelings. Her baby would cry for her outside the window and she could not go to her for fear of reprecussions. It tore at my heartstrings. I cannot imagine that. I get consumed with my babies and my world revolves around their every need. It's hard for me to not hold them and put them down. I really enjoyed her triumph. This book brought out a lot of emotion and I was glad I read it even though it was hard to comprehend the acts of men sometimes. I researched her online a little bit because there is a part that was kind of hard to believe. I won't spoil it but if you read it, let me know if you think it could have been done.
—Lataun
This is the horrific story of slavery as practiced in the United States until the Civil War. It is the personal history of Harriet Jacobs who managed to escape to the North after spending seven years hidden in a small, cramped crawlspace which only marginally protected her from the elements. In addition to telling her personal story, she relates the tortured lives of other slaves. She shows how slavery as practiced by the South was degrading, not only to the slaves themselves, but to the white family. It shows the hypocrisy of so-called Christianity, whose leaders could sleep with their female slaves one day and act as a pious, God-fearing members of a church the next day.The story is not always bleak. Ms. Jacobs tells of a few members of the Southern community who were kind, loving and helpful. There were even a few black slaves who were willing to 'rat' on their own people.Harriet thought that once she reached the North, she would be free; this was not the case. She thought that she would be treated as an equal in the North; she found that was not the case.Some sections of the book were hard to read. It is difficult to comprehend the brutality that humans inflict on other humans. It is amazing that so many slaves survived the difficulties of their lives and Ms. Jacobs reveals the role of religion, cunning and altruism in sustaining a hope for future generations.
—☯Emily
A retelling of the lives of black slaves of the south through the eyes of one born a slave during the pre-civil war years in America. Harriet tells not only her own story, but countless others, and at the time it was written, it fanned the abolitionist fires that started a war. Much of her story exposes not only the cruel and inhuman treatment of slaves in general, but also the sexual predatory ways of men in power- i.e. her own tyrannical master, Doctor Flint. The author loathed her position and when faced with the very real possibility of being forced into a corner of submission, she submitted to another white man- one who possibly could be considered predatory as well, in my eyes, as she was only 15 when their relationship started, but one who did not have control over her. However much she longed to be virtuous- she used the only means available to her in subverting her master and gave herself to the man who showed her nothing but kindness. Soon after, finding herself with child, her humiliation was great- especially when her own grandmother reproached her for her situation. But she had hopes the father of her children would buy her from her tormentor. Of course those hopes were dashed by Mr. Flint, who refused to sell her.Through constant sexual harassment, a quashed rebellion, brutal beatings, repeated failed attempts to get away from her evil master, to tricking him into selling her loved ones to her white lover who gave them their freedom, and hiding in a crawl space in her grandmother’s home FOR YEARS, to a flight to the north and eventual freedom for herself-though the tentacles of her past experiences never left her and segregation remained still very real in the North- Linda relates her gritty account, far more clearly than the more famous abolitionist novel of that time, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. I have no doubt the tales related are true, for the evil that lurks in the heart of man- crouching and waiting to be released by absolute power over another- is far more wicked than any devil and the joys of freedom all the sweeter after knowing such maliciousness.Never doubt that evil is still lurking and is being released even now. We all would do well to remember that, as ever, “…God judges men by their hearts, not by the color of their skins,” and that one day there will be a recompense.
—Zeek
