Summary Of Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl By Harriet Jacobs

Gender and Race in Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

In Harriet Jacobs’s story, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Jacobs was an extraordinary African American woman living in slavery. When she was six years old her mother died, and she was raised by her grandmother. While reading Jacobs autobiography I discovered that Jacob’s grandmother had a major part in her life. She embedded morals, values and principles in her life. For women in slavery it was fortunate to have had someone in whom you can trust and confide, and Harriet had that with her grandmother. It seemed as though Jacobs and her grandmother had unconditional love for each other, and this sometimes gave Jacobs a sense of comforting. As an African American

They could raise their children, and be a mother to them, but had very limited political rights, therefore, they could not vote. Living in slavery was a difficult time for African American, and even more so for women. Because Jacobs was an African American female she was lack freedom and opportunities that white women had, regardless of their class. In the 1800s African American women lives were terrible. As Jacobs discussed, in addition to the terrors and cruelties endured by enslaved men, women were faced with added grief of their children being taken away from them. Enslaved women were often forced to have children, so that they can be added to their master’s stock of slaves, but denied the rights to be a mother to

Her current employer heard the news and sent Jacobs away in hiding until the search ended. Therefore, the running was not over for Jacob, but she never gave up, she was still determined to be free. In 1793 the fugitive law passed. It required people in the Free States to return the runaway slaves to their masters, and it was against the law to protect them. Jacobs’s current employer knew she had to do something to help her gain her freedom, and she bought Jacobs her freedom. Jacobs did not want her employer to purchase her freedom, but she was great full that she did, because she now felt a sense of freedom. Jacobs said, “I had objected to having my freedom bought, yet I must confess that when it was done I felt as if a heavy load had been lifted from my weary shoulders” (200). These are the words Harriet used to describe how she felt after she was freed. She felt grateful, but she was no one’s