Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

The memoir Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) is an account of the life of Harriet Ann Jacobs, who calls herself “Linda Brent” in the narrative. It is a key text in the slave narrative genre, which were first-person narratives written by formerly enslaved people that hoped to convert readers to the abolitionist cause. While most slave narratives were written by men, such as The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1791), Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845), and Solomon Northrup’s Twelve Years a Slave (1853), Jacobs’ narrative was one of the first that explored the unique condition of enslaved Black women, including sexual abuse by white enslavers.

Though Incidents was influential when it was first published, it fell out of publication, and Jacobs was a forgotten figure for decades. New editions of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl emerged in the 1960s as the narrative became an important touchstone for both the American civil rights and second-wave feminist movements. While some scholars argued that the memoir was a work of fiction, professor Jean Fagan Yellin used Jacobs’s papers to prove the book’s veracity in the 1980s. These papers were published in 2008 by University of North Carolina Press, and Yellin published her findings in the authoritative biography, Harriet Jacobs: A Life (2004).

This guide refers to the 2005 Barnes & Noble Classics edition.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide discuss enslavement, anti-Black racism, sexual violence, and rape

Summary

Harriet Jacobs, who calls herself Linda Brent in the narrative, was born to two enslaved parents, both of whom died when she was a child. She and her younger brother, William (in reality, John S. Jacobs), were raised by their grandmother, Martha, who lived freely in her own home as a result of gaining a reputation and income from selling her homemade crackers.

Harriet’s first six years of childhood were relatively peaceful. When she became a teenager, her owner, Dr. Flint (James Norcom) expressed his sexual interest in her. Harriet did her best to elude him and asserted her independence, both by establishing a romantic relationship with a free Black man who was a childhood friend, and by employing various ruses to keep Dr. Flint at bay. Her efforts did nothing to prevent Mrs. Flint’s jealousy. Mrs. Flint blamed Harriet for her husband’s sexual advances. Harriet later decided to have a relationship and children with a local man named Mr. Sands (Samuel Treadwell). With him, she bore a son named Benjamin (Joseph Jacobs), and a daughter named Ellen (Louisa Jacobs). Mr. Sands promised Harriet that he would free their children. He employed a speculator who successfully purchased Harriet’s brother William and her two children. However, Dr. Flint refused to sell Harriet herself until he could get her to submit to his entreaties for a sexual relationship. Only her grandmother, who bore some influence in the community, protected her from rape and further violence, playing on Dr. Flint’s fears of being exposed.

When Harriet refused Dr. Flint’s offer for better treatment in exchange for a sexual relationship, he arranged for her to go to his son’s plantation. The more cruel Mr. Flint worked Harriet incessantly. He also beat children, which made her worry about how her own would be treated if they were moved there. Mr. Flint’s new wife was similarly vicious—she did not even believe that enslaved elderly people should be fed. When Harriet received news from a local White man that Mr. Flint intended to bring Harriet’s children onto his land, Harriet quickly made plans for her escape and theirs.

Harriet hid in an unused pantry in the home of an enslaver. The enslavers wife had agreed to keep her there until it was safe to move her. Harriet was then taken to her grandmother’s attic, where she remained for seven years until her father’s best friend, Peter, could get her on a ship going north. When the opportunity finally arrived, Harriet initially balked, but her grandmother convinced her to go because the house was becoming less safe.

A friendly ship’s captain and sailors took Harriet and her friend Fanny, who was also self-emancipated, to Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, an African American clergyman and his wife took in Harriet, while one of his friends housed Fanny. Soon, the clergyman secured Fanny and Harriet second-class train tickets to New York. In New York City, Fanny and Harriet parted ways.

Harriet first worked as a seamstress. She then quickly found employment with Mrs. Bruce, an Englishwoman who needed a nurse for her infant daughter Mary. When Harriet and Mrs. Bruce traveled to Rockaway Beach, Harriet experienced discrimination in public accommodations when she was refused service. Harriet used her income to support her daughter, Ellen, who lived with a relative of Mr. Sands. Harriet soon realized that Mr. Sands would not help Ellen become free—he had made plans for Ellen to become a lifelong maid.

After Mrs. Bruce died, Harriet traveled with Mary and Mr. Bruce to England so that the little girl could see her mother’s relatives. Harriet stayed in that country for nearly a year and recorded experiencing no racism. Mr. Bruce married an aristocratic American woman who shared her predecessor’s anti-slavery sentiments. They, too, had a baby whom Harriet agreed to nurse. Harriet confessed that she was self-emancipated. Worried both over Ellen’s condition and Dr. Flint’s fervent pursuit of Harriet after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, the second Mrs. Bruce had Harriet go to New England for several months with the baby. Harriet returned to New York only after Dr. Flint died. Harriet learned that Dr. Flint’s remarried widow and her new husband were trying to get Harriet back to make up for their lost fortune. To secure Harriet’s safety permanently, Mrs. Bruce met with a speculator who paid Mr. Dodge $300 for Harriet. Mrs. Bruce, as promised, promptly freed Harriet.

Harriet ends the narrative by telling the reader that she remained with Mrs. Bruce. Though she did not yet have a home of her own, she was free and close to her daughter.