Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl was published in 1861 under the pseudonym Linda Brent. This piece of work is an autobiography of none other than Harriet Jacobs who was actually the first known African American woman to author a slave narrative in the United States. In the book, Jacobs narrates the life in which she lived while she was under slavery from birth till 1852. Jacobs describes times in her life when slavery treated her “well” by it’s standards and also times when slavery tore her apart inside. She was around 37 years old when she finally received her and her children’s freedom in 1852. Jacobs argues that slaves are entitled to their own liberty because slavery demoralizes women, deprives them of their right to make a family home, and takes away their natural birthright of liberty.
Jacobs argues that the demoralization of women in the system of slavery is just cause to give slaves their liberty. Throughout her narrative, Jacobs continuously veers her argument towards white women in the North whenever mentioning her hardships as a woman. She does this in order to “create sympathy for her plight” and to “win the respect and admiration of her readers” for the courage and independence that she shows (Baym and Levine 921). One example of her directly addressing white women in the North is when she compares the rights that they have versus the rights that slave women have as she says “But, O, ye happy women, whose purity has been sheltered from childhood, who have been free to choose the objects of your affection, whose homes are protected by law” (Jacobs 929). She goes on to say “If slavery had been abolished, I, also could have married the man of my choice; I could have had a home shielded by the laws…but all my prospects have been blighted by slavery” (Jacobs 929). When she makes this comparison she is playing with the emotions of the white women in the North in order to show them that their value of the fragile and gentle persona of a woman is being demolished by slavery. In Jacobs narrative, she is denied the right to marry her first love, is sexually harassed by her white master, and is so desperate to escape slavery that she sacrifices her own purity in a tactful plan to be sold from her master to her unborn child’s father. Jacobs is forcing these women to visualize life as a woman in slavery without all of the virtues that are most important to women.
In Jacobs narrative, she puts an emphasis on the fact that slaves should have the liberty to create their own family home. While Jacobs was growing up she had the privilege of being raised in a household in which “her parents were allowed to live together even though they had different masters” (Baym and Levine 920). Since Jacobs was blessed to experience this sense of a family home, she was never aware of her condition of being a slave until she was six years old when her mother had died (Jacobs 923). As she got older she realized that the sense of family she had experienced was not common amongst slavery. Her own grandmother suffered the loss of one of her sons as “her children were divided among her master’s children” and “Benjamin, the youngest one, was sold” (Jacobs 922). Not only were families being separated, but mothers nursing their mistress’ children along with their own children would have to wean their baby at a very early age so “that the babe of the mistress might obtain sufficient food” (Jacobs 923). In Jacobs’ experiences with her own family of her and her two children, she feared for their future as slaves knowing of her inability to protect them from their masters. After the birth of her first child, her master threatened to sell the baby and Jacobs expresses her distraught by saying “his threat lacerated my heart. I knew the law gave him the power to fulfill it” (Jacobs 932). This would be particulary disturbing to readers at the time because of the belief that family was one of the most important virtues and should be kept sacred and protected.
Jacobs argues that slaves should have liberty because she believes they were born with a natural right to it. She doesn't view the issue of liberty as something that slaves have to gain; she views it as something that has been stolen from them and needs to be taken back. Throughout Jacobs’ entire narrative she continuously remarks claims to her own liberty and others to theirs. She talks back to her master’s threats by saying “‘You have tried to kill me, and I wish you had; but you have no right to do as you like with me’” (Jacobs 926). In doing this, she is consciously putting herself in danger from her master just because she has such a strong pride and belief in her right to liberty. She also fights back against her master’s views of her request to marry a freed black man by saying “‘Don't you suppose, sir, that a slave can have some preference about marrying? Do you suppose that all men are alike to her?’” (Jacobs 925). When Jacobs gives this response she is fighting back the notion that another person has the right to control her life and who she marries. To Jacobs, only she has the right to decide that for herself. When her mistress’ husband came looking for Jacobs after she ran away to the North, she sent a close friend to contact them and discover their intentions. Her friend replied to the husband’s offer to have her buy her freedom by saying “‘I have heard her say she would go to the ends of the earth, rather than pay any man or woman for her freedom, because she thinks she has a right to it’” (Jacobs 939). This sort of attitude from Jacobs is not surprising and is a direct example of how she believes that everyone has a right to their own liberty. Jacobs ends up having her freedom bought by a close friend who cared about her deeply, only wanting freedom for her beloved friend and nothing else. Even though Jacobs objected having her freedom bought at first, she says “I am deeply grateful to the generous friend who procured it, but I despise the miscreant who demanded payment for what never rightfully belonged to him or his” (Jacobs 940). Once again, Jacobs expresses the birthright of liberty and freedom that everyone should have.
Jacobs would not necessarily be considered a subtle woman when it comes to the right of liberty. Throughout her narrative she's said time and time again that liberty is not earned or gained; liberty is a natural right that everyone has a claim to and only they can claim their own freedom. She's showcased the issues of slavery that would mean the most to white women in the North in order to evoke a feeling of sympathy towards slave women and hopefully a feeling of despisement towards slavery. Jacobs sacrificed a lot in her lifetime, including a proper family experience, but the act of putting all of her most shameful life moments on paper and into the public has to be one of her biggest sacrifices. She didn't do it for any other reason than to work towards the end of slavery and the achievement of liberty for all. In doing this, she showcased her biggest argument that slaves should have their own liberty.
Works Cited
Jacobs, Harriet. From Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. Vol. B. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. N. pag. Print.
Baym, Nina, and Robert S. Levine, eds. "Harriet Jacobs." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. Vol. B. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. N. pag. Print.
