Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl An Autobiography of a Fugitive Slave

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl - Written by Herself - Harriet Ann Jacobs aka Linda Brent - A True Story of American Slavery - Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a slave narrative that was published in 1861 by Harriet Ann Jacobs, using the pen name "Linda Brent." The book is an in-depth chronological account of Jacobs's life as a slave, and the decisions and choices she made to gain freedom for herself and her children. It addresses the struggles and sexual abuse that young women slaves faced on the plantations, and how these struggles were harsher than what men suffered as slaves. The book is considered sentimental and written to provoke an emotional response and sympathy from the reader toward slavery in general and slave women in particular for their struggles, with rape, the pressure to have sex at an early age, the selling of their children, and the treatment of female slaves by their mistresses. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is an autobiography by a young mother and fugitive slave published in 1861 by L. Maria Childs, who bravely and generously edited the book for its author, Harriet Ann Jacobs, who used the pseudonym Linda Brent. The book documents Jacobs' life as a slave and how she gained freedom for herself and, later, for her children. In her unique demonstration of a sophisticated reading of the literature of her day, Jacobs contributed significantly to the genre of slave narrative by astutely weaving methods common in sentimental novels "to address race and gender issues." Specifically, she explores the struggles and sexual abuse that female slaves faced on plantations and generally in slavery, as well as their efforts to practice motherhood and protect their children within slavery's constraints, where their children might be sold away. In the text, Jacobs makes it clear that she is speaking to White women in the North who do not fully comprehend the evils of slavery. She makes direct appeals to their humanity and although she states that she's not seeking sympathy for herself, it is apparent that she is hoping to expand their knowledge and influence their sentiments about slavery as an institution. Throughout the text there is an evident tension of wanting readers to be able to relate while simultaneously acknowledging that a complete understanding is ultimately impossible for those who have never been enslaved.