Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Harriet Ann Jacobs

• Publisher: Clydesdale
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781945186028
• eBook ISBN:
  9781945186103
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: History

Packaged in handsome, affordable trade editions, Clydesdale Classics is a new series of essential literary works. It features literary phenomena with influence and themes so great that, after their publication, they changed literature forever. From the musings of literary geniuses like Mark Twain in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to the striking personal narrative of Solomon Northup in Twelve Years a Slave, this new series is a comprehensive collection of our history through the words of the exceptional few.One of the only surviving female slave narratives from the twentieth century, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is an autobiographical account written by Harriet Jacobs. The narrative documents the extreme adversity she overcame before she eventually achieved her freedom. Born into slavery, young Harriet was taken into the care of her mother's mistress, who treated her relatively well. However, a few years later, the mistress passed away and her cruel, abusive relatives inherited Harriet.Under the pseudonym "Linda Brent, " Jacobs recounts within the book the horrific injustices she encountered: sexual abuse, extreme cruelty, exploitation, being denied motherhood when her children are sold to another slave owner. In Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet's agonizing descriptions are indicative of what many other enslaved African American women suffered through during this tragic time in American history.Published in 1861, just on the brink of the Civil War, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a harrowing literary work bringing to light the courage, empowerment, and perseverance a young slave found in her desperate search for freedom.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface by the Author
• Introduction by the Editor
• 1 Childhood
• 2 The New Master and Mistress
• 3 The Slaves’ New Year’s Day
• 4 The Slave Who Dared to Feel Like a Man
• 5 The Trials of Girlhood
• 6 The Jealous Mistress
• 7 The Lover
• 8 What Slaves Are Taught to Think of the North
• 9 Sketches of Neighboring Slaveholders
• 10 A Perilous Passage in the Slave Girl’s Life
• 11 The New Tie to Life
• 12 Fear of Insurrection
• 13 The Church and Slavery
• 14 Another Link to Life
• 15 Continued Persecutions
• 16 Scenes at the Plantation
• 17 The Flight
• 18 Months of Peril
• 19 The Children Sold
• 20 New Perils
• 21 The Loophole of Retreat
• 22 Christmas Festivities
• 23 Still in Prison
• 24 The Candidate for Congress
• 25 Competition in Cunning
• 26 Important Era in My Brother’s Life
• 27 New Destination for the Children
• 28 Aunt Nancy
• 29 Preparations for Escape
• 30 Northward Bound
• 31 Incidents in Philadelphia
• 32 The Meeting of Mother and Daughter
• 33 A Home Found
• 34 The Old Enemy Again
• 35 Prejudice Against Color
• 36 The Hairbreadth Escape
• 37 A Visit to England
• 38 Renewed Invitations to Go South
• 39 The Confession
• 40 The Fugitive Slave Law
• 41 Free at Last
• Appendix