Flor Jacome

HIST 1301
Ms Chandler
November 15, 2016

Harriet Jacobs: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Harriet A. Jacobs autobiography lasted from 1813- 1897, the historical context is the

Antebellum era (1820 to 1855). Linda Brent was born into slavery, she spends her childhood

years in a happy home full of laughter and love with her mother and father. When Lindas mother

passes away at the age of six years old, she is sent off to live with her mothers mistress. Her

mothers mistress treats her well and teaches her to read (something that was not allowed for

some slaves). After a few years her mistress dies and Linda is left with a relative, her new

masters are cruel and neglect her. Linda Brent encounters many obstacles in her life one where

her whole life changed beyond the fact she was a runaway slave who had an affair with Dr.

Flints neighbor and had two children. Linda hid for seven years in an attic running away from

Dr.Flint and not putting in danger her children.

Gender was an issue in the book because men and women were treated differently

regarding their gender. For example, when Linda laments the birth of her daughter, Ellen, she

says Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women. Linda said this because

even though men did endure many brutalities, many women bore the added anguish of being

wrenched from their children. To make matters worse enslaved women were often used as

breeders, forced to bear children to add to their masters stock, but denied the right to care

for them. As Linda pointed out children from such unions were often sold to protect the honor

and reputation of their masters wife. As Linda mentioned when Dr. Flint tried to have an affair

with her, Lindas mistress would get really jealous to the point where she would watch Linda

sleep to see if Dr. Flint would try anything or if Linda would mutter a word about an affair in her

sleep. In general historians point of view, even though male were valued for their hard labor and
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strength, women were valued for their offspring. She documented her horrific experiences as an

enslaved African woman, even though men had it tough as well she wrote a book about how

slavery had a devastating and dehumanizing impact on every slave women.

A theme I noticed in the book is the corrupting power of slavery, the author goes to prove

that there cannot be no good slave master. Slaveholders such as Dr. Flint become inhumane

monsters who take advantage of being a slaveholder and takes punishments to a whole new level.

Some slaveholders create a sense of kindness but even the kind slaveholders are capable of

betraying their slaves when it is convenient or profitable such as Mr. Sands. Mr. Sands promises

to free Linda Brents children as soon as they get to the North but if a slave owner such as Mr.

Sands encounters financial problems. He would most likely be tempted to sell his own children

to get him out of trouble. This also comes to show that even though slaves are human and

humans should be entitled to have property or to be able to call something mine, slaveholders

take advantage of that privilege. For example, when Aunt Martha, Lindas grandmother loaned

her mistress those three-hundred dollars, the mistress said she would pay her back. Aunt Martha

believed her mistress word but back then slaves were not entitled to have a property so when her

mistress passed away, her relative did not want to pay her for that matter. So overall the

overpowering of slavery was inhumane and devastating because slaves were taken advantage

beyond any limit they could encounter.

Circumstances that are typical of the lives of slaves in the narrative is the fact that many

of the slaves did encounter beatings. Some of those beatings would be falsely indulged due to the

fact that many of the masters would generally want to beat a slave for the fun of it. For

example, when Dr. Flint hit Linda for the first time for wanting to marry a black man who was a
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November 15, 2016
free man. Marriage always comes into play because back than slaves we not allowed to be

married because they werent entitled to know what love feels like. In this circumstance Dr. Flint

offered Linda to marry one of his slaves to fill up his stock of slaves. Another circumstance

that salves faced was the fact that many would not get enough food from their masters. It was

due to the fact that their masters were very cruel or because there wasnt enough food to feed

many slaves.

An event that I found unrealistic as to say in the book was the fact that Aunt Martha was

not treated as a slave when she was a slave. She had special treatment to the fact that her mistress

let her open her own bakery, that was not typical for slaves but it was an interesting event. Also

considering the fact that many of the racial backgrounds in the book was kind of controversial to

what history has been about. For example, the entwined between whites and black, it showed the

fact that some slaves did have ancestral white decent and they were still treated poorly. Another

event that was not typical in the lives of slaves in the narrative was the fact that Linda Brent was

property of a four year old, yet the father made all the decisions on how to treat her and boss her

around. It is known that slaves always belonged to the master and mistress but it was weird

knowing that Linda really belonged to Dr. Flints younger daughter.

A significant point that the author established in the book was on how women were

treated, hint her title Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. The devastating and dehumanizing of

enslaved women, when it came to their children and how they were used as breeding to fill up

their masters stock of slaves. Another significant point is the fact that Harriet Jacobs wanted

the world to know the life she lived as a slave and how all the obstacles an enslaved woman had

to go through. For example, the fact that she lived a happy childhood but as she got older she
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November 15, 2016
noticed the drastic change in the way she was treated because for a second she had forgotten she

was born into a slave. Knowing that everything would change when she got older, it made her

reminisce that her life was completely different from the white little girls she used to play with.

An issue that the author did not explain well was when she mentioned the socioeconomic

situation, when she described the slaves not having enough food to eat. The author did not

explain if it was punishment or if it was because there were too many slaves on the plantation.

This book that Harriet Jacobs wrote was intended for all audiences, the reason she wrote

this book was to show the world the life a slave girl. Many books tend to describe the life of a

slave but she wanted to do something different and describe her life as an African woman living

in the era of slavery. The obstacles she encountered, the way women were treated, and the way

women had to struggle to try to buy their own children back. So this book is entitled to be read

by abolitionist, who are for slavery. Abolitionist could get a glimpse on the life of a slave and

their point of view on how they were treated as animals instead of humans. It could create a

sense of realization that slaves suffered through horrible treatment for having a different color of

skin.

I really enjoyed the book, it was a different type of perspective because I was used to

reading books about slavery but it only focused on how women were mistreated. It gave a me a

whole new perspective because usually all you hear about it enslaved women getting raped by

their masters but this book went all in depth on how women were treated and Harriet Jacobs life

was a way for her to share womens suffering in that period of time. I would give this book a 4

because it was a good book and interesting and it actually made me view the way on how women

were used a breeding to have more children. But it also made me see that till this day women
Flor Jacome
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November 15, 2016
still suffer over discrimination not only for the color of their skin but also parts of the body they

cannot change.
Flor Jacome
HIST 1301
Ms Chandler
November 15, 2016
Bibliography

Ms. Chandler Lecture Salver. Houston Academy for International Studies/

Houston Community College Course HIST 1301

Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/jacobs/jacobs.html
Slave Narrative Book