Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself is an autobiography by Harriet Jacobs, a mother and fugitive slave, published in 1861 by L. Maria Child, who edited the book for its author. 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. Jacobs contributed to the genre of slave narrative by using the techniques of sentimental novels "to address race and gender issues."Venetria K. Patton, Women in Chains: The Legacy of Slavery in Black Women's Fiction, Albany, New York: SUNY Press, 2000, pp. 53-55 She explores the struggles and sexual abuse that female slaves faced as well as their efforts to practice motherhood and protect their children when their children might be sold away.

In the book, Jacobs addresses White Northern women who fail to comprehend the evils of slavery. She makes direct appeals to their humanity to expand their knowledge and influence their thoughts about slavery as an institution.

Jacobs composed Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl after her escape to New York, while living and working at Idlewild, the home of writer and publisher Nathaniel Parker Willis.Baker, Thomas N. Nathaniel Parker Willis and the Trials of Literary Fame. New York, Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 4.

Historical context Biographical background

Harriet Jacobs was born into slavery in Edenton, North Carolina in 1813. When she was a child, her mistress taught her to read and write, skills that were extremely rare among enslaved people. At twelve years old, she fell into the hands of a new enslaver who harassed her sexually. When he threatened to sell her children, she hid in a tiny crawlspace under the roof of her grandmother's house. After staying there for seven years, spending much of her time reading the Bible and also newspapers,Jean Fagan Yellin: Harriet Jacobs: A Life. New York 2004, p. 50. she finally managed to escape to New York in 1842.

Her brother, John S. Jacobs, who had also managed to escape from slavery, became more and more involved with the abolitionists led by William Lloyd Garrison, going on several anti-slavery lecturing tours from 1847 onwards.Jean Fagan Yellin: Harriet Jacobs: A Life. New York 2004, p. 93. In 1849/50, Harriet Jacobs helped her brother running the Anti-Slavery Office and Reading Room in Rochester, New York, being in close contact with abolitionists and feminists like Frederick Douglass and Amy and Isaac Post. During that time she had the opportunity to read abolitionist literature and become acquainted with anti-slavery theory. In her autobiography she describes the effects of this period in her life: "The more my mind had become enlightened, the more difficult it was for me to consider myself an article of property." Yellin uses this sentence as headline and motto of chapter 7, which covers her time in Rochester. Jean Fagan Yellin: Harriet Jacobs: A Life. New York 2004, p. 101. Urged by her brother and by Amy Post, she started to write her autobiography in 1853, finishing the manuscript in 1858. During that time she was working as a nanny for the children of N. P. Willis. Still, she didn't find a publisher until 1860, when Thayer & Eldridge agreed to publish her manuscript and initiated her contact with Lydia Maria Child, who became the editor of the book, which was finally published in January 1861.

Abolitionist and African-American literature When Jacobs started working on Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl in 1853, many works by abolitionist and African-American writers were already in print. In 1831 William Lloyd Garrison had started the publication of his weekly The Liberator.

In 1845, Frederick Douglass had published his first autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Written by Himself, which became a bestseller and paved the way for subsequent slave narratives.Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning. The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, New York: Nation Books 2016. , pp. 183–184.

The White abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852, artfully combining the genres of slave narratives and sentimental novels.Venetria K. Patton, Women in Chains: The Legacy of Slavery in Black Women's Fiction, Albany, New York: SUNY Press, 2000, p. 55. Although a work of fiction, Stowe based her novel on several accounts by eyewitnesses. However, the relationship between Black and White abolitionist writers was not without problems. Garrison supplied a preface to Douglass's Narrative that would later be analyzed as latently racist,By Black scholar I. X. Kendi, cf. Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning. The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, New York: Nation Books 2016. , p. 184. and the relationship between the two male abolitionists deteriorated when Garrison was less than supportive to the idea of Douglass starting his own newspaper.David W. Blight, Frederick Douglass. Prophet of Freedom. New York 2018, p. 188. That Stowe's book became an instant bestseller was in part due to the fact that she shared her readers' racist mindset, explicitly stating that Black people were intellectually inferior and modeling the character of her protagonist, Uncle Tom, accordingly.Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning. The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, New York: Nation Books 2016. . When Jacobs suggested to Stowe that Stowe transform her story into a book, Jacobs perceived Stowe's reaction as a racist insult, which she analyzed in a letter to her White friend Amy Post.Jean Fagan Yellin: Harriet Jacobs: A Life. New York 2004, pp. 119–121.

Cult of True Womanhood In the antebellum period, the Cult of True Womanhood was prevalent among upper and middle-class White women. This set of ideals, as described by Barbara Welter, asserted that all women possessed (or should possess) the virtues of piety, purity, domesticity, and submissiveness.Welter, Barbara. "The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860," American Quarterly 18. (1966): 151-74. Venetria K. Patton explains that Jacobs and Harriet E. Wilson, who wrote Our Nig, reconfigured the genres of slave narrative and sentimental novel, claiming the titles of "woman and mother" for Black females, and suggesting that society's definition of womanhood was too narrow. They argued and "remodeled" Stowe's descriptions of Black maternity.Patton (2000), Women in Chains, p. 39

They also showed that the institution of slavery made it impossible for African-American women to control their virtue, as they were subject to the social and economic power of men.Larson, Jennifer. "Converting Passive Womanhood to Active Sisterhood: Agency, Power, and Subversion in Harriet Jacobs' 'Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl’," Women's Studies 35.8 (2006): 739-756. Web. October 29, 2014 Jacobs showed that enslaved women had a different experience of motherhood but had strong feelings as mothers despite the constraints of their position.Patton (2000), Women in Chains, p. 37

Jacobs was clearly aware of the womanly virtues, as she referred to them as a means to appeal to female abolitionists to spur them into action to help protect enslaved Black women and their children. In the narrative, she explains life events that prevent Linda Brent from practicing these values, although she wants to. For example, as she cannot have a home of her own for her family, she cannot practice domestic virtues.

Character list Linda Brent is Harriet Jacobs, the narrator and protagonist.

Aunt Martha is Molly Horniblow, Linda's maternal grandmother. After briefly talking of her earliest childhood, her parents and her brother, Jacobs begins her book with the history of her grandmother. At the end of the book, Jacobs relates the death of her grandmother in 1853, soon after Jacobs had obtained her legal freedom, using the very last sentence to mention the "tender memories of my good old grandmother." Molly Horniblow obtained her freedom in 1828, when Jacobs was about 15 years old, because friends of hers bought her with the money she had earned by working at night.

Benjamin is Joseph Horniblow, Aunt Martha's youngest child and Linda's uncle. Chapter 4, The Slave Who Dared to Feel like a Man, is largely dedicated to his story: Being only a few years older than Linda, "he seemed more like my brother than my uncle". Linda and Benjamin share the longing for freedom. When his master attempts to whip him, he throws him to the ground and then runs away to avoid the punishment of a public whipping. He is caught, paraded in chains through Edenton, and put into jail. Although his mother entreats him to ask forgiveness of his master, he proudly refuses and is finally sold to New Orleans. Later, his brother Mark (called Philipp in the book), unexpectedly meets him in New York, learning that he has escaped again, but is in a very poor physical condition and without support. After that meeting, the family never heard from him again. Linda and her brother see him as a hero. Both of them would later name their son for him.Jean Fagan Yellin: Harriet Jacobs: A Life. New York 2004, pp. 20-21.

William is John S. Jacobs, Linda's brother, to whom she is close.

Benny is Joseph Jacobs, Linda's son.

Ellen is Louisa Matilda Jacobs, Linda's daughter.

Dr. Flint is Dr. James Norcom, Linda's master and tormentor. J. F. Yellin, after researching his surviving private letters and notes, writes about his personality: "Norcom was a loving and dominating husband and father. In his serious and sophisticated interest in medicine, his commitment as a physician, and his educated discourse, he appears unlike the villain Jacobs portrays. But his humorlessness, his egoism, his insistently controlling relationships with his wife and children ... suggest the portrait Jacobs draws. This impression is supported by ... his unforgiving fury against those he viewed as enemies. It is underscored by his admitted passionate responses to women."H.Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Ed. J.F.Yellin, Cambridge 2000. Note 2 to p. 83 on p. 295.

Mrs. Flint is Mary "Maria" Norcom, Linda's mistress and Dr. Flint's wife.

Emily Flint is Mary Matilda Norcom, Dr. Flint's daughter and Linda's legal owner.

Mr. Sands is Samuel Tredwell Sawyer, Linda's White sexual partner and the father of her children, Benny and Ellen.

Mr. Bruce is Nathaniel Parker Willis.

The second Mrs. Bruce is Cornelia Grinnel Willis.

Overview