The word slave entitles the label of the person being legal property and is forced to obey the owners orders at all causes. For Harriet Jacobs she was claimed and labeled a slave at a young age and began her years of slavery. As we have learned from history, slaves were constantly mistreated and abused for their labor had no rights or say for their lives. Unlike Jacobs she wasn’t endured to hard beatings nor intensive labor like most slaves though she was still sexually abused by her owners. As a slave and a runaway Harriet Jacobs suffered more from psychological abuse than physical abuse because she was abused, separated from her family and was forced into hiding for most of her adult life. For most slaves they were physically abused and were put to work hard extensive work by the slave owners. Jacobs was still a slave but she wasn’t used for intensive labor rather for household needs and sexual means. Both of her masters had sexually abused her and mistreated her because of her title consistently though the abuse physically hurt her she was bothered more by the mental consequences of the …show more content…
Eventually she returned with her child and she was taken away from her and Jacobs couldn’t do anything from being separated from her. Then she got pregnant with her second owner’s child and was mentally afraid of being separated from him just as she was with her daughter. Throughout her life as a slave she suffered from being ripped away from those she loves without being able to say anything about it since their lives were in the hands of the owners. Each action she made toward her and her children’s freedom she seemed to be emotionally ripped from her own. She was forced to watch her children grow up through a small peephole and couldn’t let them know of her location in fear of being
In Fredrick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs narrative they show how the institution of slavery dehumanizes an individual both physically and emotionally. In Jacobs narrative she talks about how women had it worse than men did in slavery. While men suffered, women had it worse due to sexual abuse. The emotional, physical, and sexual abuse was dehumanizing for anyone.
Harriet A. Jacobs was born a slave in North Carolina in 1813 and became a fugitive in the 1830s. She recorded her triumphant struggle for freedom in an autobiography that was published pseudonymously in 1861. As Linda Brent, the book 's heroine and narrator, Jacobs recounts the history of her family: a remarkable grandmother who hid her from her master for seven years: a brother who escaped and spoke out for abolition; her two children, whom she rescued and sent north. She recalls the degradation of slavery and the special sexual oppression she found as a slave woman: the master who was determined to make her his concubine. With Frederick Douglass 's account of his life, it is one of the two archetypes in the genre of the slave
But, unlike him, she had very good memories of her mistress, saying that“ she taught me to read and spell; and for this privilege, which so rarely falls to the lot of the slave, I bless her memory”. Jacobs’s mother and her mistress had gown up together since they were children and, when they became women, her mother was “a most faithful servant to her foster sister” (pg. 10). When Jacob’s mother died, the kind mistress had promised her that she would take care of her daughter and she would never let her suffer for anything. As a matter a fact, she kept her word, until her death, and although it was unlawful, she educated her slave. The mistress also taught her the precepts of God’s Word and treated her like she was one of her own daughters.
Harriet A Jacobs was born into slavery by the parents of Elijah and Delilah jacobs February 11, 1813.Harriet grew up in Edenton NC,at a very young age she was being traded back and forward following the death of her mother which lead her to become sad and alone only as a child. Harriet was a slave of former masters of Margaret horniblow,Daniel Jacobs,and Andrew Knox. Later on Harriet escaped from slavery and was later freed,she became a abolitionist speaker and reformer. Harriet Ann Jacobs was a very broken person throughout the hard times she went through as a young child based on the troubles of her mother's passing and a fact that she born into such cruel thing known as slavery and having to deal with being passed around to a different
Harriet Jacobs, or Linda Brent as she liked to be called, was born into slavery in North Carolina in 1813. She grew up really happy, unaware of her status of being a slave. When she was 6 years old, her mother died and since then she learnt of her status of being a slave (Jacobs, 9). She had a very hardworking father who was also a slave and a younger brother called William, whom she loved so much. Her maternal grandmother helped to raise her and William.
As a woman, Harriet Jacobs faced unique challenges in the slave society. She was forced to endure sexual abuse from her owner and struggled to protect her children from the same abuse. This experience is clear in her narrative, which focuses mainly on the sexual misuse of female slaves. She writes with passion, using her own experiences to gain the attention of free women in the North (Jacobs).
This meant that Jacobs life as a slave was worse that style of life that anyone could have; because she was a slave the fear of being raped or abused was always in her mind. Jacobs was dealt a life with a double edge sword; meaning that she did not have to be worry about being abused because her master did not allow it but her master had plans to make her his own when she came to age. Jacobs did not know the latter of her situation, therefore she like any woman of her time began to become a good woman. This consisted of he being pure holy and domestic. Since her purity was being saved for her master, her being a house slave the same as Douglass, also the love for god came easy to her; she believed that she was a good woman.
Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass are two names that cannot be skimmed over when examining the abolitionist movement in the United States. They were abolitionists who played key roles in dismantling slavery and ensuring equality for those in bondage. Both were former slaves and recounted their hardships when expressing the vile nature of the institution of slavery. Although they were both slaves in the same time period, their experience in enslavement had major differences. There were similarities, of course, as both their childhoods were stripped from them and their own lives were completely under the power of those who “owned” them in their enslavement.
In Harriet’s narrative we see her a born slave as well. As a woman slave she was doing house work such as modern day chores. She was under the master named Mr. Flint that raped her when she was in her later teenage years. She had children in her young years but they were
The Civil War was obligatory for change, but the purpose was viewed differently by Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass, a former slave and abolitionist, believes that the Civil War signified the emancipation of slaves by allowing them to earn their American Citizenship. Abraham Lincoln, President and creator of the Emancipation Proclamation, believes that the Civil War was means to preserve and restore the Union. Before the Civil War, controversy of slavery and secession arose in the United States.
One would think that slavery was worse for men but it was not according to Harriet Jacobs. “Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women. Superadded to the burden common to all, they have wrongs, and sufferings, and mortifications peculiarly their own.” Women were not only seen as slaves but as sexual objects that the masters felt like they were entitled to. They were expected to do work along with pleasure their masters needs if be.
“By degrees, a more tender feeling crept into my heart. He was an educated and eloquent gentleman; too eloquent, alas, for the poor slave girl who trusted in him.” In the early 1830’s, as a slave, you did what you were told and you weren’t supposed to ask questions or say no. That is just how things were back then and if you did otherwise you were beaten and punished for it by a white man. “Harriet Jacobs was born a slave in Edenton, North Carolina, in 1813.
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.” (page 820) Harriet Ann Jacobs was born into slavery in Edenton, North Carolina in 1813. Jacobs grew up in a family where her father was able to keep her and her brother together without being separated.
Jacobs, a woman, was subjected to sexual exploitation by her owner, which made her experience of slavery unique. She was forced to bear children by her owner, and her struggles were compounded by the fact that she was responsible for the welfare of her children. On the other hand, Douglass, a man, was subjected to physical abuse and hard labor. Despite these differences, both of them experienced the dehumanizing effects of slavery, which
At the gravesite, the audience is pushed to feel sympathy for Jacobs, and recognize that slavery is a burden that should not follow her to places which are as personal and vulnerable as the gravesite of her mother. They can also infer a similar situation will be bestowed upon her children once they are of age, effecting future generations of African Americans. While there is no physical abuse for Jacobs in this example, she is able to achieve her purpose of advocating for abolition by explaining the emotional side, much more commonly experienced by female slaves. Later in the narrative, once her family