Slavery Reflected By Harriet Jacobs Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl

Dating back to 1619, slavery plays a significant role in American history. Brutal oppression and violations have persisted among millions of enslaved African Americans for centuries, as expressed in many autobiographical slave narratives. Compared to male slaves, who were more likely to endure physical violence, slave women were more likely to undergo sexual violations from their male slave owners. In Harriet Jacobs’ narrative Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, she described her experience as an enslaved black woman and provided insights into the difference in womanhood between black and white women. Although both races share a unified female identity, they were differentiated by the hierarchy of race, which entitled white women to have

Flint further exemplified the stressful situations of enslaved black women. Despite being forty years her senior, Dr. Flint desired to pursue Jacobs, who was fifteen years old, through constant harassment and intimidation. “My master began to whisper foul words in my ear. Young as I was, I could not remain ignorant of their import. I tried to treat them with indifference or contempt. The master's age, my extreme youth, and the fear that his conduct would be reported to my grandmother, made him bear this treatment for many months. He was a crafty man, and resorted to many means to accomplish his purposes” (44). Unable to endure the continuous persecution from Dr. Flint, Jacobs resorted to another white man, Mr. Sands, with whom she had two children, Benjamin and

Being viewed as tools for reproduction and pieces of property, enslaved black women were more likely to witness and experience traumatic separations from their families through slave trading. In Jacobs’ narrative, her maternal grandmother, Aunt Marthy, had suffered through countless separations since childhood. Despite being a free black girl in South Carolina, she was kidnapped on her way to visit her relatives, and was forced to separate from her mother and siblings. “She was the daughter of a planter in South Carolina, who, at his death, left her mother and his three children free, with money to go to St. Augustine, where they had relatives. It was during the Revolutionary War; and they were captured on their passage, carried back, and sold to different purchasers” (12). As a mother and grandmother, she was apprehensive about being separated from her family, and although she did not understand the reason behind Uncle Benjamin and Jacobs’ wishes to escape to the North, she supported them with all she could. “When my grandmother returned home and found her youngest child had fled, great was her sorrow; but, with characteristic piety, she said, "God's will be done" (35). Aunt Marthy was, undeniably, intelligent and caring. As a slave, she was highly regarded in the neighborhood (hence the nickname “Aunt Marthy”), and an “indispensable