A Life Of Enslaved Black People In Incidents, By Harriet Jacobs

When reading Harriet Jacobs/Linda Brent’s autobiography addressing her life as a slave who grew up in the deep south and who later fled to the North, two important characters make an impact on her life. Like many people, Jacobs/Brent’s life actions are heavily impacted by the people and the atmosphere around her, driving her decisions, wants, and desires. Although Jacob/Brent’s grandmother makes an impact on her life, Dr. Flint makes a greater impact on her life. With his pushing, he helps determine whom she has children with, controls her life through the livelihood of her children, and even impacts her life after he has passed away through his surviving daughter and son-in-law.

The emotional and sexual abuse was awful for Jacobs. In her narrative she talks about how horrible it really was for women "My master began to whisper foul words in my ear." Her master told her she was property "He told me I was his property; that I must be subject to his will in all things." She says how she had to give up their children "The children were sold to a slave-trader,

But, unlike him, she had very good memories of her mistress, saying that“ she taught me to read and spell; and for this privilege, which so rarely falls to the lot of the slave, I bless her memory”. Jacobs’s mother and her mistress had gown up together since they were children and, when they became women, her mother was “a most faithful servant to her foster sister” (pg. 10). When Jacob’s mother died, the kind mistress had promised her that she would take care of her daughter and she would never let her suffer for anything. As a matter a fact, she kept her word, until her death, and although it was unlawful, she educated her slave. The mistress also taught her the precepts of God’s Word and treated her like she was one of her own daughters.

Lesson 6 Discussion In “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” Harriet Jacobs reveals some of the many unpleasant and terrible situations slaves were forced to experience. Jacobs described her slave master, Dr. Flint, as a vile monster who filled her mind with unclean images and subjected her to sexual harassment at an early age. Unfortunately, Dr. Flint eventually forced Jacobs to have sexual relations with him. Dr. Flint threatened Jacobs not to tell anyone, including her grandmother, and that she needed to obey her master as well as his orders.

As a woman, Harriet Jacobs faced unique challenges in the slave society. She was forced to endure sexual abuse from her owner and struggled to protect her children from the same abuse. This experience is clear in her narrative, which focuses mainly on the sexual misuse of female slaves. She writes with passion, using her own experiences to gain the attention of free women in the North (Jacobs).

He was then put into the cotton gin, which was screwed down, only allowing him room to turn on his side when he would not lie on his back. Every morning a slave was sent with a piece of bread and bowl of water, which were placed within reach of the poor fellow…” (Jacobs

Harriet Jacobs was a well-known slavery abolitionist in the 1800s. She was born a Slave and ended up gaining her Freedom by fleeing her master. A couple of years later she wrote the book “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” where she wrote about her experiences with slavery and how she felt being free. Harriet describes slavery to be extremely dreadful with a lot of abuse and immorality. She also describes how freedom gives her a sense of hope and security.

“By degrees, a more tender feeling crept into my heart. He was an educated and eloquent gentleman; too eloquent, alas, for the poor slave girl who trusted in him.” In the early 1830’s, as a slave, you did what you were told and you weren’t supposed to ask questions or say no. That is just how things were back then and if you did otherwise you were beaten and punished for it by a white man. “Harriet Jacobs was born a slave in Edenton, North Carolina, in 1813.

I actually found it quite sad how Jacobs did not know that she was a slave until later in her childhood. Her sheltered life led to her shock of the disturbing imagery of slavery during her adolescent years. I agree with the idea of losing innocence. She can no longer grasp the pure principles she learned in her childhood due to slavery. I cannot imagine how frustrating it would be to be in her position.

Jacobs was born into slavery. Her owner Mr. Flint made her live in their house because they were scared she would try to escape if she lived in the slave quarters. Little did her owner know she was slowly

Harriet Jacobs experienced firsthand how slavery within the white household degrades the virtue and motherly instinct of white women. Throughout the 18th century, Jacobs is passed from owner to owner relearning their rules and regulations of the house. Jacobs knew nothing different, but noticed how her owners would slowly change and their caring humanitarian actions would start to diminish. Jacobs was not the only one who noticed her owners changing, the whole world began to take note of the dwindling virtue in all women. Harriet Jacobs experienced firsthand how slavery within the white household degrades the virtue white women by ridding them of compassion and altering their perception of what is right and wrong.

What kept Jacobs personally from running away was her family, specifically her grandmother and two children. She recounts what horrible things could happen to her family if she ran away and could not help them. To ensure her children’s safety she hid in an attic for 7 years nearby while family and friends took care of her children under the assumption that she had already escaped to the north. In secret, she revealed that she had stayed the entire time and when the opportunity arose, she fled to the north on a ship and later reunited with her children who were also moved to the

Harriet Jacobs’ life story is full of pain. She was born to a slave family. She enjoyed happy family life until the death of her mother, when she was a tender child. At the age of six, she was taken into the home of white mistress, who taught her to read and to sew. “I was born a slave; but I never knew it till six years of happy childhood had passed away’’ (ILSG 6).

When she was six years old her mother passed away and Jacobs discovered the tragic truth; she was a slave. After he mothers death, “she was sent to live in the home of her mother’s mistress, Margaret Horniblow” (“Harriet Jacobs”). As stated by law, slaves are property, therefore distributed as so in the estate unless granted freedom by the owner. When Horniblow passed, Jacobs was sent to her niece, daughter of Dr. James Norcom (“Harriet Jacobs”). Soon after her move to the Norcom’s estate, Dr. Norcom began pursuing her.

This knowledge provided her with a much better understanding of the power struggles the south was facing. When her son was speaking to Dr. Flint regarding his mother and proclaimed “if you put her in jailed, or tell her you’ll cut her head off, I’ll tell her to go right back”(Jacobs 117) she was able to see the new power dynamics. For Jacobs freedom was defined by her piece of mind and this piece of mind was reliant on the well-being of her children. A glimpse into the lives of her children and the manner in which power was now fluctuating, in even the smallest amounts, granted her the strength to