Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) by Harriet Ann Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a book that was published in 1861 by Harriet Jacobs, using the pen name "Linda Brent." It is considered a work of feminist literature. While on one level it chronicles the experiences of Harriet Jacobs as a slave, and the various humiliations she had to endure in that unhappy state, it also deals with the particular tortures visited on women at her station. Often in the book, she will point to a particular ...
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Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) by Harriet Ann Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a book that was published in 1861 by Harriet Jacobs, using the pen name "Linda Brent." It is considered a work of feminist literature. While on one level it chronicles the experiences of Harriet Jacobs as a slave, and the various humiliations she had to endure in that unhappy state, it also deals with the particular tortures visited on women at her station. Often in the book, she will point to a particular punishment that a male slave will endure at the hands of slave holders, and comment that, although she finds the punishment brutal in the extreme, it cannot compare to the abuse that a young woman must face while still on the cusp of girlhood.
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My mother read this before I did and we both enjoyed the book.
Keith C
Aug 11, 2011
Best I've Read
This is the very best insight into the life of a slave I have ever read, by male or female. Written pre-Civil War, Harriet Jacobs gives the view of the terrible dynamics of a slave girl entering womanhood at only 12 years old -- and the horrible consequences of the "respected community medical doctor" who wickedly controls her life, and his wife who hates her for simply living and thus being a feminine target of her husband. She gives descri\ptions of the very rough lives of other slaves on nearby plantations. A very engrossing read. I gave my copy to my good friend going back to Africa, who is interested in the history of African Americans. A definite recommendation.
BugEyeMidnight
Sep 6, 2009
She's amazing. We all know that slavery was an awful abomination, but hearing this firsthand account knocked the wind from me. I was stunned and deeply moved.