THIS EDITION HAS BEEN REPLACED BY A NEWER EDITION. 
 This enlarged edition of the most significant and celebrated slave narrative now completes the Jacobs family saga, surely one of the most memorable in all of American history. John Jacobs's short slave narrative, A True Tale of Slavery, published in London in 1861, adds a brother's perspective to Harriet Jacobs's own autobiography. It is an exciting addition to this now classic work, as John Jacobs presents additional historical information about family life so well described already by his sister. Importantly, it presents the people, places, and events Harriet Jacobs wrote about from the different perspective of a male narrator. Once more, Jean Yellin, who discovered this long-lost document, supplies annotation and authentication. She has also brought her Introduction up to date.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself, Enlarged Edition, Now with "A True Tale of Slavery"

Biographies & Memoirs

Jacobs, Harriet A.

Jean Fagan Yellin

John S. Jacobs

Community & Culture

Harvard University Press

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself

This enlarged edition of the most significant and celebrated slave narrative completes the Jacobs family saga, surely one of the most memorable in all of American history. John S. Jacobs’s short slave narrative, A True Tale of Slavery, published in London in 1861, adds a brother’s perspective to Harriet A. Jacobs’s autobiography. It is an exciting addition to this now classic work, as John Jacobs presents further historical information about family life so well described already by his sister. Once more, Jean Fagan Yellin, who discovered this long-lost document, supplies annotation and authentication. This is the standard edition of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, reissued here in the John Harvard Library and updated with a new bibliography.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself, with “A True Tale of Slavery” by John S. Jacobs (The John Harvard Library)

Belknap Press

Incidents In the Life of a Slave Girl

History

Harvard Univ. Press

Harriet Jacobs was born in 1813, in Edenton, North Carolina. She was born into slavery to her father, Elijah Jacobs and her mother, Delilah Horniblow.
Harriet’s mother died when she six years old and she lived with her mother’s mistress, Margaret Horniblow. Margaret taught Harriet to read, write and sew. When Harriet was 11, Margaret died, and Dr. James Norcom became her new master.
Although Jacobs was still a child, Norcom sexually harassed her. When she asked permission to marry a free black slave, Norcom refused to allow it. To get away from Norcom’s sexual advances, she began a consensual sexual relationship with an unmarried, white lawyer named Samuel Sawyer. He was kind and caring to Jacobs. Harriet gave birth to two children with Sawyer, Joseph and Louisa. 
Norcom continued to pursue her and when Jacobs learned that he was going to force her children to work as plantation slaves, she ran away in 1835. For 7 years, she hid in her grandmother’s attic, and during that time, wrote letters to Norcom to confuse him on her whereabouts. Also, during that time, Sawyer was elected as a member of the United States House of Representatives and had also purchased their children. While Jacobs hid in her grandmother’s attic, her children also lived with her grandmother, and she was able to watch and listen to her children from the attic.
In 1842, Jacobs made her escape north. With the help of anti-slavery friends, she was able to make it to New York and find work as a housemaid in 1845 for Mary Stace Willis. She was able to be reunited with her daughter, Louisa, who had also been sent north by Sawyer to work as a house servant. Soon after, she was reunited with her brother, John, who was a fugitive slave.
She continued to work for the Willis family after her mistress died. She accompanied Mr. Willis and his daughter to England, where she wrote that there was no prejudice against people of color. A short while later, after their return to the United States, Jacobs left her employment with the family and moved to Boston to be closer to her son, daughter and brother. Her brother was very active in the anti-slavery movement. 
After her brother opened an anti-slavery reading room, Jacobs became involved with it and soon joined the American Anti-Slavery Society. She helped to support the anti-slavery reading room by giving speeches and collecting donations to help support the movement. 
In 1850, The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed, and the Jacobs family feared for the freedom and safety. Harriet Jacob;s brother, John, fled to California, where he found work in the gold mines of the Gold Rush, and her son, Joseph Jacobs joined his uncle there a few years later.
Meanwhile, in an act of immeasurable kindness, and without the knowledge of Harriet Jacobs, the second wife of Mr, Willis, Cornelia Grinnell Willis paid $300 to purchase Harriet Jacobs and then gave Jacobs her freedom.
Jacobs wrote Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl after a friend of hers, Amy Post, convinced her to do so. It was published in 1861 under the pseudonym Linda Brent. She also changed names in her book, so people wouldn’t be recognized. Mr Norcom is known as Mr Flint. Jacobs was the first woman in the United States to write a fugitive slave autobiography.
After Jacobs published her book, she devoted her time to helping former slaves who were refugees of the Civil War. She supported her daughter as she worked to educate African Americans. In 1970, Harriet Jacobs ran a boarding house with Louisa in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In her later years, she lived with her daughter Louisa in Washington D.C., where she died March 7, 1887.

Incidents in the Life Of A Slave Girl, Written By Herself - Annotated

Literature & Fiction

Literary

Independently published

Title: Incidents in the life of a slave girl.Author: Harriet A JacobsPublisher: Gale, Sabin Americana Description: Based on Joseph Sabin's famed bibliography, Bibliotheca Americana, Sabin Americana, 1500--1926 contains a collection of books, pamphlets, serials and other works about the Americas, from the time of their discovery to the early 1900s. Sabin Americana is rich in original accounts of discovery and exploration, pioneering and westward expansion, the U.S. Civil War and other military actions, Native Americans, slavery and abolition, religious history and more.Sabin Americana offers an up-close perspective on life in the western hemisphere, encompassing the arrival of the Europeans on the shores of North America in the late 15th century to the first decades of the 20th century. Covering a span of over 400 years in North, Central and South America as well as the Caribbean, this collection highlights the society, politics, religious beliefs, culture, contemporary opinions and momentous events of the time. It provides access to documents from an assortment of genres, sermons, political tracts, newspapers, books, pamphlets, maps, legislation, literature and more.Now for the first time, these high-quality digital scans of original works are available via print-on-demand, making them readily accessible to libraries, students, independent scholars, and readers of all ages.++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification:++++SourceLibrary: Huntington LibraryDocumentID: SABCP05001000CollectionID: CTRG04-B923PublicationDate: 18610101SourceBibCitation: Selected Americana from Sabin's Dictionary of books relating to AmericaNotes: By Mrs. Harriet A. Jacobs.Collation: 306 p

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

Gale, Sabin Americana

Excerpt from Sketches of the Families of Thomas Ewing and Mary Maskell, William Ewing and Eleanor Thompson, James Ewing and Eleanor Rhea and Their Descendants, Vol. 1 of 3: With Historical Data and Reminiscences; Notes and Appendices"Men who are regardless of their ancestors and of their posterity are apt to be regardless of themselves. Our ancestors belong to us by affectionate retrospect; our descendants, by affectionate anticipation." Thus spoke Daniel Webster, at the Anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims held at Washington, D. C., December 22nd 1845.In the spirit of this remark, the following pages have been compiled and written. Save for the general plan followed, the writer lays little claim to originality. Material has been collected from many sources. Chief among these is the "Record of the Family of Thomas Ewing," a work of about forty pages from which much of the first part of our book has been taken. Substantial aid has been given by a number of persons who, in recent years, have been collecting genealogical data about the various branches of the Ewing family, presumably with the intention of publishing at some time. Notable among these are William Cox Ewing of Yonkers, N. Y., John G. Ewing of Elizabeth, N. J., William A. Ewing of Dayton Ohio and Helen Ewing Benjamin of Philadelphia who jointly gathered and classified more than three thousand persons bearing the Ewing name, James L. Ewin of Washington, D.C. and Mrs. E.L. Martin of New Straightsville, Ohio. The memoirs of the late James Henry Ewing of Saltsburg, Pennsylvania and Rev, Thompson R.Ewing, D. D, of Hillsdale, Md., have also furnished valuable contributions.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

Sketches of the Families of Thomas Ewing and Mary Maskell, William Ewing and Eleanor Thompson, James Ewing and Eleanor Rhea and Their Descendants

Reference

Genealogy

Forgotten Books

A. Harriet Jacobs is an important figure in American history as one of the first women slaves to publish a first person narrative of her experiences.   Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl expresses the unspoken life of the slave through Jacobs’ own experiences in North Carolina under the hands of a ruthless owner who was cruel and abusive to her. Jacobs describes not only her experiences as a slave, but her multiple attempts to escape until finally making safe passage North, where she would eventually become an abolitionist speaker and reformer.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Classics

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Linda Brent was the pseudonym of Harriet Jacobs, an African-American woman born into slavery in the mid-1800s.  Using her own harrowing experiences, she describes the dehumanizing effects of slavery as an institution, and how these emboldened her to escape from her southern slave-master Dr Flint, and to risk everything in seeking emancipation in the Northern States.  She was, ultimately, able to achieve freedom for herself and her family.   The author's prose shines with an unquenchable conviction that it is not simply the poor conditions in which slaves are held, but rather the inherently evil nature of slavery itself, that requires its total eradication from human society.

I was born a slave; but I never knew it till six years of happy childhood had passed away. My father was a carpenter, and considered so intelligent and skilful in his trade, that, when buildings out of the common line were to be erected, he was sent for from long distances, to be head workman. On condition of paying his mistress two hundred dollars a year, and supporting himself, he was allowed to work at his trade, and manage his own affairs. His strongest wish was to purchase his children; but, though he several times offered his hard earnings for that purpose, he never succeeded. In complexion my parents were a light shade of brownish yellow, and were termed mulattoes. They lived together in a comfortable home; and, though we were all slaves, I was so fondly shielded that I never dreamed I was a piece of merchandise, trusted to them for safe keeping, and liable to be demanded of them at any moment. I had one brother, William, who was two years younger than myself—a bright, affectionate child. I had also a great treasure in my maternal grandmother, who was a remarkable woman in many respects. She was the daughter of a planter in South Carolina, who, at his death, left her mother and his three children free, with money to go to St. Augustine, where they had relatives. It was during the Revolutionary War; and they were captured on their passage, carried back, and sold to different purchasers. Such was the story my grandmother used to tell me; but I do not remember all the particulars.

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Books by Jacobs, Harriet A.

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Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself, Enlarged Edition, Now with "A True Tale of Slavery"

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself, with “A True Tale of Slavery” by John S. Jacobs (The John Harvard Library)

Incidents In the Life of a Slave Girl

Incidents in the Life Of A Slave Girl, Written By Herself - Annotated

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

Sketches of the Families of Thomas Ewing and Mary Maskell, William Ewing and Eleanor Thompson, James Ewing and Eleanor Rhea and Their Descendants

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl