Life of a Slave Girl
One of the newer books in highest demand in our Gift Shop is also one of the oldest. Harriet Jacobs, a woman born and raised in Edenton, wrote Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, and it was first published in 1861. It is an extremely important book, but not an easy read from many emotive perspectives. As told by Jacobs, born 1813, it reveals what it was like to live enslaved and to escape and hide in search of freedom. "Slavery is terrible for men, but it is far more terrible for women," Jacobs is reputed to have written around 1861.
Jacob wrote under the pseudonym "Linda Brent" to tell her story. History has shown that a local tavern proprietor, her owner, played a major, negative role in Jacob's life. On the other hand, Edentonian Samuel Sawyer, her white lover who was single at the time and eventually becomes a member of the U. S. House of Representatives, granted their two children freedom. Yet, for many complex reasons, Jacobs still felt the necessity to escape to the North.
Jacob's life is full of pain and challenges, but she was also unusually lucky to have been taught to read and write (skills very few enslaved attained) at an early age and to have traveled internationally after moving to New York and Massachusetts. With those skills, exposure and education she was able to tell the story of slavery from the woman's perspective.
Jacobs' relocation led to new contacts and opportunities for her to learn from numerous authors and anti-slavery leaders in New York and Boston, where she met Quaker Amy Post, author Harriet Beecher Stowe, Nathaniel Parker Willis, and Sara Payson Willis Parton (also known as the writer, Fanny Fern).
Your may find more information on wikipedia, or by reading the Cliffs Notes or the SparkNotes. We'd prefer to sell you a copy of her book, but if you are so inclined, free ebooks are available at: Project Gutenberg or at Page By Page Books.
North Carolina has recently created a new website with additional information about Jacobs. The site has a great deal of information including a graphical biography.
One of the newer books in highest demand in our Gift Shop is also one of the oldest. Harriet Jacobs, a woman born and raised in Edenton, wrote Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, and it was first published in 1861. It is an extremely important book, but not an easy read from many emotive perspectives. As told by Jacobs, born 1813, it reveals what it was like to live enslaved and to escape and hide in search of freedom. "Slavery is terrible for men, but it is far more terrible for women," Jacobs is reputed to have written around 1861.
Jacob wrote under the pseudonym "Linda Brent" to tell her story. History has shown that a local tavern proprietor, her owner, played a major, negative role in Jacob's life. On the other hand, Edentonian Samuel Sawyer, her white lover who was single at the time and eventually becomes a member of the U. S. House of Representatives, granted their two children freedom. Yet, for many complex reasons, Jacobs still felt the necessity to escape to the North.
Jacob's life is full of pain and challenges, but she was also unusually lucky to have been taught to read and write (skills very few enslaved attained) at an early age and to have traveled internationally after moving to New York and Massachusetts. With those skills, exposure and education she was able to tell the story of slavery from the woman's perspective.
Jacobs' relocation led to new contacts and opportunities for her to learn from numerous authors and anti-slavery leaders in New York and Boston, where she met Quaker Amy Post, author Harriet Beecher Stowe, Nathaniel Parker Willis, and Sara Payson Willis Parton (also known as the writer, Fanny Fern).
Your may find more information on wikipedia, or by reading the Cliffs Notes or the SparkNotes. We'd prefer to sell you a copy of her book, but if you are so inclined, free ebooks are available at: Project Gutenberg or at Page By Page Books.
North Carolina has recently created a new website with additional information about Jacobs. The site has a great deal of information including a graphical biography.
