Harriet Jacobs Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl

Harriet Tubman was born under the name Araminta Ross in the early 1820s. Both of her parents were slaves in the state of Maryland. She had a rough childhood filled with abuse. As a teenager, Ross stood up for a slave that was disobeying his master. The slave owner threw a two-pound weight at him, but hit Ross in the head. As a result, she suffered seizures and other medical problems for the rest of her life. Ross later married a free black man in 1844 named John Tubman. Around her wedding, she changed her name to Harriet, most likely to honour her mother. After Harriet’s slave owner passed away, she escaped to Pennsylvania as she thought she might be sold.

Jacobs decided to write her autobiography “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” in order to share the true life of enslaved women, since men wrote most autobiographies. She wanted a woman’s perspective and she thought she was obliged to write it because she was well educated for a black woman during the times of slavery. Her life and other people alike her had their lives greatly affected by Andrew Jackson and his political roles during the late 1920’s to early 1950’s. Jackson’s policies, politics, and societal roles during and after his presidency affected the lives of enslaved women in the United States between 1828 and 1850.

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 Tubman is a larger than life icon and an American hero. Harriet was born into a family of eleven children who were born into slavery. Benjamin Ross and Harriet Greene were her parents, and lived on a plantation in Dorchester County, Maryland. Harriet was put to work by the age of five, and served as a maid and children’s nurse. At the age of six Araminta was taken from her parents to live with James Cook, whose wife was a weaver, to learn the skills of weaving. James Cook would order her to guard his muskrat traps, which compelled her to walk through the water. At the age of 12 she became a field hand. Because Harriet Tubman wanted freedom, she fought constantly to achieve it. Harriet went from slave to inspiration in a matter of years.

Harriet Jacobs and Sojourner Truth are women who face adversity categorized in an invisible sub-group, making it difficult for black women to compete in the world. This sub-group is known as intersectionality. Black women struggle with the perception being inferior placing them at the bottom of the social class. Jacobs and Truth, however, share their experiences to other men and women allowing them to be aware of this invisible group. They willingly chose to speak out against this discrimination. In doing so, they deal with scolding looks of men as well as dealing with the harsh critics’ opinions of their narratives. Jacobs’ narrative and Truths speech allows other slave women to not be discouraged by the mere fact that their skin was of color. With that said, they strive to build the confidence to fight for the equality of all women. Harriet Jacobs and Sojourner Truth reflects the phenomenon of intersectionality through their confidence and willingness to fight for

Mary Rowlandson and Harriet Jacobs narration of their hard experience during captivity and slavery played a very significant role in revealing much about the conditions of women during that time. As most of the critics believe that telling a story from the point view of an oppressed group as women in a male dominant society, will guarantee a new framework of resistance and will break the typical image of women as being submissive and Marginalized. Moreover, these two writers, through their narration were able to endure all the difficulties and the hardships as loosing freedom and the sexual abuse, to seek the rights of all other women, and to fight for the elimination of both slavery and captivity. Harriet Jacobs in her narration of “Incidents in the life of a slave girl written by herself” decided to take the risk and to narrate her own experience as being slave and oppressed by the white system abuse. Although she is not the only one who wrote about slavery and its condition, but as William Andrews said “"Many of the ugly truths of the black woman's condition in slavery had been widely publicized

In both the inspiring narratives of Narrative in the Life of Fredrick Douglass by Frederick Douglass’s and in Incidents in the life of a slave girl by Harriet Jacobs the respective authors demonstrate the horrors and disparity of slavery in there own ways. They both use their unique experiences in the difference facets of slavery to show a very complete picture of the problems and atrocities of slavery.

The idea of republican motherhood and the cult of domesticity are two contrasting ideas of how women should be living their life around the times of the 1800s. The republican motherhood was a movement that women should be educated and are able to live individual lives without men providing for them. The cult of domesticity was a view that women should be stay-at-home wives, take care of the children, and provide comfort to the husband when he is home. The biggest difference of these two movements was the decision to educate women. Republican motherhood was all for the educating of women but the cult of domesticity wanted the opposite: no education for women.

Harriet Ann Jacobs known to the public as Linda Brent and Frederick Douglass both were the victims of slavery and succeed to escape its clutches. As they possessed the skill of literateness, after becoming free members of the American society, they decided to write down their experiences of living as slaves to share what they had witnessed. Consequently, “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” is the fruit of Linda Brent’s labor, and Frederic Douglass delivered his testimony in “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave”. Additionally, this is not the point where their similarities diminish. They were also involved into abolitionist movement and work as social reformers which gained them recognition and esteem amid Northerners. However, it is crucial to acknowledge how much resemblance their ordeals included before the liberation in terms of gender

Harriet Jacobs, referred to in the book as Linda Brent, was a strong, caring, Native American mother of two children Benny and Ellen. She wrote a book about her life as a slave and how she earned freedom for herself and her family. Throughout her book she also reveals countless examples of the limitations slavery can have on a mother. Her novel, also provides the readers a great amount of examples of how motherhood has been corrupted by slavery. A Moment is defined as “a very brief period of time” (Google.com). The specific moment that I had chose in the Incidence in The Life of a Slave Girl is “I feared that the sight of my children would be too much for my full heart; but I could not go out into the uncertain future without one last look.

The beginning of the 17th Century marked the practice of slavery which continued till next 250 years by the colonies and states in America. Slaves, mostly from Africa, worked in the production of tobacco and cotton crops. Later , they were employed or ‘enslaved’ by the whites as for the job of care takers of their houses. The practice of slavery also led the beginning of racism among the people of America. The blacks were restricted for all the basic and legally privileged rights. Not only them but others outsiders (to America) such as Asian-Americans , native Americans etc.

To slave a person is the most inhumane act one can commit, and unfortunately was very popular during the 18th century. However, have you ever wondered the different impacts slavery caused between men and women? Both Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs showcase, through their writings, the horrors of slavery, and contrast the many similarities and import differences between the experience of slavery between genders.

Fredrick Douglas stated in his narrative, “No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end around his own neck”. This darkening illustration of the taking of not only taking the slaves freedom, but taking their “masters” freedom in the process shows just how sick, and twisted slavery had to be to change everyone involved. Harriet Jacobs, a former slave, had similar views to the horrendous changing of each individual. Stating “Yet few slaveholders seem to be aware of the widespread moral ruin occasioned by this wicked system. Their talk is of blighted cotton crops--not of the blight on their children's souls.” She too believed that not only were the slaves stripped

Professor James T. Downs gave an interesting lecture on the masking of epidemics after the civil war. His take on the Harriet Ann Jacobs’ story was something that extremely captivated me because I had not known much about her story. Harriet Ann Jacobs exposed the reality of what it meant to be a slave and gave a different perspective from that of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Despite all, she did to expose the conditions that former slaves lived in, and the progress that she helped create in the 19th century, many whites did not believe that Jacobs wrote her own story. This was due to the basis that she was poor and black. Jacobs’ work was extremely important because she told the story of how all the freed people obtained their freedom and then suddenly

Her father was always telling her to feel free and do not feel someones property. While her grandmother was always teaching Jacobs respect and manners. She was always telling her about principles and ethnics. She was not only a good teacher but also her safety. Therefore, Jacobs was always honest, pure, self-respected and