Description
Book SynopsisThese two slave narratives expand our knowledge of the differing ways males and females coped with enslavement and later ordeals in flight. This popularly-priced anthology contains the often taught Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs and the recently discovered A True Tale of Slavery by John S. Jacobs, her younger brother, now reprinted for the first time.
After Harriet’s owner, a physician, repeatedly abused her, she escaped his sexual advances for a time by entering into a relationship with a local attorney. Her owner continued to harass her, and she sought refuge in a crawlspace where she lived in hiding. After her escape to the North, she published her narrative.
John S. Jacobs “walked away” as he put it, from his owner, a congressman. He sailed on a whaling ship and educated himself. He then became a paid agent of the Anti-Slavery Society, made a lecturing trip with Frederick Douglass, and finally settled in London, where he remained until it was safe for a fugitive to return to the North. He wrote his story for a London Sunday school journal where it was published in 1861.
Table of ContentsIntroduction
1. Harriet A. Jacobs: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
2. John S. Jacobs: A True Tale of Slavery
Childhood 13
The New Master And Mistress 17
The Slave's New Year's Day 24
The Slave Who Dared To Feel Like A Man 27
The Trials Of Girlhood 39
The Jealous Mistress 43
The Lover 50
What Slaves Are Taught To Think Of The North 57
Sketches Of Neighboring Slaveholders 60
A Perilous Passage In The Slave Girl's Life 69
The New Tie To Life 75
Fear Of Insurrection 81
The Church And Slavery 87
Another Link To Life 96
Continued Persecutions 100
Scenes At The Plantation 107
The Flight 117
Months Of Peril 121
The Children Sold 129
New Perils 135
The Loophole Of Retreat 140
Christmas Festivities 145
Still In Prison 148
The Candidate For Congress 152
Competition In Cunning 155
Important Era In My Brother's Life 161
New Destination For The Children 166
Aunt Nancy 174
Preparations For Escape 180
Northward Bound 190
Incidents In Philadelphia 194
The Meeting Of Mother and Daughter 199
A Home Found 203
The Old Enemy Again 206
Prejudice Against Color 211
The Hairbreadth Escape 214
A Visit To England 220
Renewed Invitations To Go South 223
The Confession 226
The Fugitive Slave Law 229
Free At Last 235
Appendix 245
