Harriet Jacobs

Reader, did you ever hate? I hope not. I never did but once; and I trust I never shall again. Somebody has called it "the atmosphere of hell"; and I believe it is so. First published in 1861 under a pseudonym, this is the autobiography of Harriet Jacobs, a mother, fugitive, and slave. The book outlines her life, the struggles...

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is the stirring autobiography of Harriet Jacobs, a mother and fugitive slave. It details her harrowing escape from slavery and her seven years hiding in an attic crawl space, as well as the racism she faced in freedom. The Norton Library edition presents the text of the first (1861) edition, with explanatory...

One of the central firsthand accounts of slavery in America A haunting, evocative recounting of her life as a slave in North Carolina and of her final escape and emancipation, Harriet Jacobs's classic narrative, written between 1853 and 1858 and published pseudonymously in 1861, tells firsthand of the horrors inflicted on slaves. In writing this extraordinary memoir, which culminates in...

One of hundreds of slave narratives published just before the Civil War, this account is unique in that it is written by a woman. This offers a different, perhaps more realistic, perspective on slave experience than that presented in the more typical 'heroic' male narrative. The work is notable for its blending and manipulation of several narrative techniques, including those...

Not only one of the last of over one hundred slave narratives published separately before the Civil War, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) is also one of the few existing narratives written by a woman. It offers a unique perspective on the complex plight of the black woman as slave and as writer. In a story...