INTRODUCTION - by Julie Adams

INTRODUCTION by Julie R. Adams

". . . I do earnestly desire to arouse the women of the North to a realizing sense of the condition of two millions of women at the South, still in bondage, suffering what I suffered, and most of them far worse. I want to add my testimony to that of abler pens to convince the people of the Free States what Slavery really is. Only by experience can any one realize how deep, and dark, and foul is that pit of abominations." LINDA BRENT

So writes Harriet Jacobs (under the pen name of Linda Brent) in the Preface of her book, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Incidents is Jacobs' own story of what it was like to be born and reared in slavery. Through her book, she gives the reader a clear picture of the life of a female house slave in the South before the Civil War. In anguishing detail, Jacobs tells how she resisted being sexually exploited by her master and how she gained a degree of freedom from this oppression first by going into hiding and then by escaping to the North. Incidents is also the story of the sacrifices Jacobs made to protect her family and to help her two children, as well as herself, become legally free.

Harriet Jacobs was born in North Carolina in 1813. She was born a slave but "never knew it till six years of happy childhood had passed away." Both of Jacobs' parents were mulattos (children of a White father and a Negro mother), and her family, including her brother, lived together in a comfortable home. When Jacobs' was six, her mother died. It was at this time that she learned she was a slave. Still her life was not difficult. Her mistress was very kind to her and imposed no disagreeable tasks on her. However, upon the death of her mistress, Jacobs found her situation becoming increasingly intolerable. Jacobs was only fifteen when "Dr. Flint," her master, began his sexual pursuit of her. This abuse and the resulting oppression from Flint's wife forced Jacobs to take drastic measures to protect herself. She encouraged a relationship with "Mr. Sands," a white, unmarried lawyer and eventually bore two children by him, the first child (a son) when she was sixteen years old and a daughter when she was eighteen.

When the situation with "Dr. Flint" became intolerable, Jacobs left her children and ran away. She took refuge in the small garret of her grandmother's house, located in the same town as "Dr. Flint's" residence. Jacobs was twenty-two years old. She spent the next seven years living in the garret in a space that was only nine feet by seven feet and three feet at its highest point. Her living conditions and the constant fear of detection took a big toll on her well-being. Finally, Jacobs' was able to escape to the North, and her children eventually followed. During the next six years, Jacobs managed to support herself while evading numerous attempts by "Dr. Flint" and his daughter to locate her and return her to slavery in the South. Finally, at the age of forty, Jacobs was purchased and then emancipated by "Mrs. Bruce," a staunch abolitionist who was Jacobs' employer and friend.
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DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES FOR READING INCIDENTS .
There are many different ways to read Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. The following is a list of several perspectives:

as an example of a work of literature written by a slave woman;
to illustrate how the various members of an intact slave family interacted under the burden of slavery;
from a moral point of view (In the book, Jacobs asks her readers to be understanding of the conflict between some of her actions and her knowledge of what is morally correct.);
to better understand the psychological impact of slavery on its victims;
as an example of civil disobedience (in the same manner as Thoreau who published "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience" in 1849, fourteen years after Harriet Jacobs ran away from Dr. Flint and two years after she escaped to the North).

. RELATED CRITICAL DISCUSSIONS .
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl also lends itself to critical discussions on a number of topics. Several of these topics are listed below:

the authenticity of Jacobs as the author of Incidents;
why Jacobs' book did not receive the literary and historical attention it deserved until the late 1900's. Possible issues to consider:

(1) [literary] Jacobs was a woman and a Black woman as

well (the sexism of the "canon")

(2) [historical] the book was published in 1861 and so was

not as important for abolitionists as earlier works;

comparisons of Jacobs' Incidents to her brother's (John Jacobs) accounts of her life in his publication, "A True Tale of Slavery";

. RELATED ISSUES & TOPICS

the impact of the Nat Turner Insurrection in 1831 on the lives of slaves;
the lives of free Blacks in the South before the Civil War (like Jacobs' grandmother);
the issue of the black woman's sexuality and oppression by white slave owners;
the conflict between the "ideal" concept of motherhood (the "white" standard) and the realities of slave motherhood;
the issue of slave literacy (under what circumstances did slaves learn to read and write? what were the consequences -- negative and positive -- for literate slaves?);
the origin of the word "Jim Crow" and how the Jim Crow laws came into existence after the Civil War;
Harriet Jacobs' life after she became free.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RETURN TO HARRIET JACOBS HOME PAGE GO TO TABLE OF CONTENTS .
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Last updated: January 4, 1998