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

The life of Harriet Jacobs, as relayed in “Incidents,” reveals that there is no true freedom even upon escaping for enslaved Black people in the United States, yet unlike the typical slave’s life, she had a relatively less harsh life by being a house slave. Her life shares the fear Black slaves have to live with, particularly even after escaping. However, she does have her own experience in slavery that does not correspond with other slaves. Regardless, both her shared and personal experience illustrates the life of enslaved Black people.

True freedom was unattainable in most cases for slaves. To escape slavery, it typically consisted of running away from the master. Another common method of achieving freedom was for a slave to be bought from

Jacobs was a house slave and not a plantation slave which was rare. The Cotton Revolution was central in North Carolina, where Jacobs lived, meaning there were many plantations. In the cotton business, there was a high demand and purchase of slaves, leading to “In many cases, enslaved women did the same work as men, spending the day—from sun up to sun down—in the fields picking and bundling cotton. In some rare cases, especially among the larger plantations, planters tended to use women as house servants more than men, but this was not universal.”3 Jacobs’ orders were based in Flint's house; she did not spend hours outside picking cotton in poor conditions. Not many were granted this privilege, most slaves worked and died at plantations. The only times Jacobs worked in the plantation were as severe punishment. For example, Dr. Flint forced her to choose between working there or accepting to be his mistress: “[I]f you reject the bright side, you will be obliged to take the dark one. You must either accept my offer, or you and your children shall be sent to your young master’s plantation, there to remain till your young mistress is married; and your children shall fare like the rest of the negro children. I give you a week to consider it.”4 The threat of being sent away to work at a plantation reveals that Jacobs is not plantation slave and such life is considered cruel enough to be a punishment, far worse than her current life. In addition, for Dr. Flint to use this as the worse alternative in an attempt to force Jacobs to accept being his mistress, it alludes that being a plantation slave is worse than being Dr. Flint’s mistress. Thus, as many slaves worked at plantations and for Jacobs to be threatened to be sent there, it suggests she had an easier life than other