Harriet Ann Jacobs

DATE OF BIRTH: 1813

PLACE OF BIRTH: Edenton, North Carolina

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Harriet's mother Delilah was the daughter of a slave named Molly Horniblow. (Margaret Horniblow was her mistress/owner.) Her father, Daniel Jacobs, was a carpenter and slave to Andre Knox, a doctor, and was the son of Henry Jacobs, a white man. Harriet never knew she was a slave until her mother died when she was six years old. At that time, Harriet and her siblings moved in with their grandmother, Molly.

"[We] lived together in a comfortable home; and, though we were all slaves, I was so fondly shielded that I never dreamed that I was a piece of merchandise." [Quotes are from Harriet's autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.]

EDUCATION: When Harriet moved in with her grandmother, her mistress Margaret taught Harriet to read and sew, and both Margaret and Molly gently and firmly instilled Christian virtues in Harriet.

"My mistress had taught me the precepts of God's Word ..... While I was with her, she taught me to read and spell; and for this privilege, which so rarely falls to the lot of a slave, I bless her memory."

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Harriet Jacobs is revered for her autobiographical account, titled Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself, which was first published in 1861 under a pseudonym, with all of the names changed.

This writing is among the most significant of personal slave histories, of which there are only two other published autobiographies (by Frederick Douglass and Nat Turner). However, most people believed the book was a fictional novel written by a white author -- until its 1987 updated reprint. In the riveting book, Harriet depicts her life, detailing the cruel oppression and sexual harassment by her master, and her ultimate triumph of pride, autonomy and freedom.

"When he told me that I was made for his use, made to obey his command in every thing; that I was nothing but a slave, whose will must and should surrender to his, never before had my puny arm felt half so strong."

When Margaret Horniblow died, Harriet (now 12 years old), her grandmother Molly and her siblings became the property of Margaret's niece. But since the niece was only five years old, her father, Dr. James Norcom ("Dr. Flint" in Incidents), became their de facto master. And although Margaret had stated that she wanted Molly freed upon her death, Dr. Norcom refused to do this. Molly was 50 years old.

"Dr. Flint called to tell my grandmother that he was unwilling to wound her feelings by putting her up at auction, and that he would prefer to dispose of her at private sale. My grandmother saw through his hypocrisy; she understood very well that he was ashamed of the job. ..... When the day of sale came, she took her place among the chattels, and at the first call she sprang upon the auction-block. Many voices called out, 'Shame! Shame! Who is going to sell you, aunt Marthy? Don't stand there! That is no place for you.' Without saying a word, she quietly awaited her fate. No one bid for her. At last, a feeble voice said, 'Fifty dollars.' It came from a maiden lady, seventy years old, the sister of my grandmother's deceased mistress. ..... The auctioneer waited for a higher bid; ... no one bid above her. ..... She gave the old servant her freedom."

About the time Harriet turned 15 years old, Dr. Norcom began relentlessly pursuing her sexually. While he did have power over her, he was fearful of her grandmother because she was so well-known and respected in the community, so he never forced anything. At first he whispered "foul words" in Harriet's ear. Then his tactics became more overt, but Harriet refused to give in. Dr. Norcom's wife became suspicious of her husband's intentions -- and directed her rage at Harriet.

"He tried his utmost to corrupt the pure principles my grandmother had instilled. He peopled my young mind with unclean images, such as only a vile monster could think of. I turned from him with disgust and hatred. But he was my master, I was compelled to live under the same roof with him -- where I saw a man forty years my senior daily violating the most sacred commandments of nature. He told me I was his property; that I must be subject to his will in all things. ... But where could I turn for protection? No matter whether the slave girl be as black as ebony or as fair as her mistress. In either case, there is no shadow of law to protect her from insult, from violence, or even from death...

"The mistress, who ought to protect the helpless victim, has no other feelings towards her but those of jealousy and rage. Even the little child, who is accustomed to wait on her mistress and her children, will learn, before she is twelve years old, why it is that her mistress hates such and such a one among the slaves. Perhaps the child's own mother is among those hated ones. She listens to violent outbreaks of jealous passion, and cannot help understanding what is the cause. She will become prematurely knowing in evil things. Soon she will tremble when she hears her master's footfall. She will be compelled to realize that she is no longer a child. If God has bestowed beauty upon her, it will prove her greatest curse. That which commands admiration in the white woman only hastens the degradation of the female slave.

"..... The light heart which nature had given me became heavy with sad forebodings. The other slaves in my master's house noticed the change. Many of them pitied me; but none dared ask the cause. They had no need to inquire. They knew too well the guilty practices under that roof; and they were aware that to speak of them was an offence that never went unpunished.

"..... I would have given the world to have laid my head on my grandmother's faithful bosom, and told her all my troubles. But Dr. Flint swore he would kill me, if I was not as silent as the grave. ... I was very young, and felt shamefaced about telling her such impure things, especially as I knew her to be very strict on such subjects."

After a time, Mrs. Norcom asked Harriet to look her in the eye and tell the truth; Harriet did. The wife then became a sort of protector, having Harriet sleep in an adjacent room with the Norcoms' daughter. But jealousy reared again, and Harriet was again the focus.

"My master was, to my knowledge, the father of eleven slaves. But did the mothers dare to tell who was the father of their children? Did the other slaves dare to allude to it, except in whispers among themselves? No, indeed! They knew too well the terrible consequences.

"Southern women often marry a man knowing that he is the father of many little slaves. They do not trouble themselves about it. They regard such children as property, as marketable as the pigs on the plantation; and it is seldom that they do not make them aware of this by passing them in the slave-trader's hands as soon as possible, and thus getting them out of their sight."

During this time, Harriet repeatedly asked Dr. Norcom for permission to marry a free black man. Norcom violently refused.

"I loved him with all the ardor of a young girl's first love. But when I reflected that I was a slave, and that the laws gave no sanction to the marriage of such, my heart sank within me. My lover wanted to buy me; but I knew that Dr. Flint [would never consent]. ..... [Dr. Flint told her:] 'Never let me hear that fellow's name mentioned again. If I ever know of your speaking to him, I will cowhide you both; and if I catch him lurking about my premises, I will shoot him as soon as I would a dog. .....

"My lover was an intelligent and religious man. Even if he could have obtained permission to marry me while I was a slave, the marriage would give him no power to protect me from my master. ..... And then, if we had children, I knew they must 'follow the condition of the mother.' ..... He was going to Savannah ... and hard as it was to bring my feelings to it, I earnestly entreated him not to come back. ..... The dream of my girlhood was over. I felt lonely and desolate."

Dr. Norcom had his own plan. Thinking Harriet's reluctance was due to fear of his wife, he would build a cottage for Harriet four miles from town. Harriet refused to move there, knowing her grandmother's position in the community could not protect her in that isolated location.

"... he talked of his intention to give me a home of my own, and to make a lady of me. ..... I vowed before my Maker that I would never enter it. I had rather toil on the plantation from dawn till dark; I had rather live and die in jail, than drag on, from day to day, through such a living death. ..... What could I do? I thought and thought, till I became desperate, and made a plunge into the abyss.

"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, do not judge the poor desolate slave girl too severely! 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; and I should have been spared the painful task of confessing ... I wanted to keep myself pure ... but I was struggling alone ... and I became reckless in my despair."

Harriet had become friends with a young, caring white man named Samuel Tredwell Sawyer ("Mr. Sands" in Incidents), an unmarried attorney. She hoped that by becoming sexually involved, and thus pregnant, Dr. Norcom would angrily sell her -- and perhaps Samuel could buy her and her child. She was 15 years old.

"[T]o be an object of interest to a man who is not married, and who is not her master, is agreeable to the pride and feelings of a slave, if her miserable situation has left her any pride or sentiment. It seems less degrading to give one's self, than to submit to compulsion. There is something akin to freedom in having a lover who has no control over you, except that which he gains by kindness and attachment. ..... the condition of a slave confuses all principles of morality, and, in fact, renders the practice of them impossible.

"I shuddered to think of being the mother of children that should be owned by my old tyrant. I knew that as soon as a new fancy took him, his victims were sold far off to get rid of them; especially if they had children. I had seen several women sold, with babies at the breast. He never allowed his offspring by slaves to remain long in sight of himself and his wife. .....

"At last, [Dr. Flint] came and told me the cottage was completed, and ordered me to go to it. I told him I would never enter it. He said, 'I have heard enough of such talk as that. You shall go, if you are carried by force; and you shall remain there.' I replied, 'I will never go there. In a few months I shall be a mother.' He stood and looked at me in dumb amazement, and left the house without a word. I thought I should be happy in my triumph over him. But now that the truth was out, and my relatives would hear of it, I felt wretched."

Although they had two children together (Joseph and Louisa Matilda), Dr. Norcom adamently refused to sell Harriet, or her children. (Harriet had her first child at age 16.) Harriet lived from that time onward with her grandmother and her children. She refused to tell Dr. Norcom who the father of her children was. As the children grew over the years, the doctor continued to pursue Harriet and would say, "These brats will bring me a handsome sum of money one of these days." Once again, Samuel went to a slave trader to have him try to buy Harriet. Dr. Norcom refused again, and later told Harriet:

"'Your new paramour came to me, and offered to buy you; but you may be assured you will not succeed. You are mine; and you shall be mine for life. There lives no human being that can take you out of slavery. I would have done it; but you rejected my kind offer.' .... [When her son became scared, hugging her, Dr. Flint] hurled him across the room. I thought he was dead, and rushed towards him to take him up. 'Not yet!' exclaimed the doctor. 'Let him lie there till he comes to.' 'Let me go! Let me go!' I screamed, 'or I will raise the whole house.' I struggled and got away; but he clinched me again. Somebody opened the door, and he released me. ... Anxiously I bent over the little form, so pale and still; and when the brown eyes at last opened, I don't know whether I was very happy.

"All the doctor's former persecutions were renewed. He came morning, noon, and night. No jealous lover ever watched a rival more closely ...

"[Later, the doctor said:] '... you desire freedom for yourself and your children, and you can obtain it only through me. If you agree to what I am about to propose, you and they shall be free. There must be no communication of any kind between you and their father. I will procure a cottage, where you and the children can live together. Your labor shall be light, such as sewing for my family. ... Let the past be forgotten. If I have been harsh with you at times, your wilfulness drove me to it. You know I exact obedience from my own children, and I consider you as yet a child.' [She refused the offer.]

"He replied, 'I must let you know there are two sides to my proposition; if you reject the bright side, you will be obliged to take the dark one. You must either accept my offer, or you and your children shall be sent to your young master's plantation, there to remain till your young mistress is married; and your children shall fare like the rest of the negro children.'"

She knew she could not trust her master. Dr. Norcom banished her to work on his plantation, managed by his son, who was preparing it for his new wife. Harriet's son stayed to live with her grandmother, since he was ill, but her daughter went with her. She was 21 years old; her son was five and her daughter around two.

"I worked day and night, with wretchedness before me. When I lay down beside my child, I felt how much easier it would be to see her die than to see her master beat her about, as I daily saw him beat other little ones. The spirit of the mothers was so crushed by the lash, that they stood by, without courage to remonstrate. .....

"Ellen broke down under the trials of her new life. Separated from me, with no one to look after her, she wandered about, and in a few days cried herself sick. One day, she sat under the window where I was at work, crying that weary cry which makes a mother's heart bleed. I was obliged to steel myself to bear it. After a while it ceased. I looked out, and she was gone. As it was near noon, I ventured to go down in search of her. The great house was raised two feet above the ground. I looked under it, and saw her about midway, fast asleep. I crept under and drew her out. As I held her in my arms, I thought how well it would be for her if she never waked up..."

Soon after, Harriet put her daughter on a cart heading back to town to live with her grandmother. Shortly after the new bride arrived, Harriet learned that her children were to be brought to the plantation to be 'broken in.' Harriet made her decision.

With the help of her friends, Harriet escaped in June of 1835. She first hid in the house of a friend, hoping to get the chance to escape up North after Dr. Norcom relaxed his pursuit of her. But he did not give up. He posted reward notices --

$300 REWARD! Ran away from the subscriber, an intelligent, bright, mulatto girl, named Harriet, 21 years of age. Five feet four inches high. Dark eyes, and black hair inclined to curl; but it can be made straight. Has a decayed spot on a front tooth. She can read and write, and in all probability will try to get to the Free States. All persons are forbidden, under penalty of law, to harbor or employ said slave. $150 will be given to whoever takes her in the state, and $300 if taken out of the state and delivered to me, or lodged in jail.

"The search for me was kept up with more perseverance than I had anticipated. I began to think that escape was impossible. ... [my relatives] advised me to return to my master, ask his forgiveness, and let him make an example of me. [But] I had resolved that, come what would, there should be no turning back."

A sympathetic white woman, a lifelong friend of Harriet's grandmother, came along to volunteer hiding space in her house for a time. From her secret room window, she could see Dr. Norcom walking below on the street.

"Thus far I had outwitted him, and I triumphed over it. Who can blame slaves for being cunning? They are constantly compelled to resort to it. It is the only weapon of the weak and oppressed against the strength of their tyrants.

"I was daily hoping to hear that my master had sold my children... But Dr. Flint cared even more for revenge than he did for money. My brother William and the good aunt who had served in his family twenty years, and my little Benny, and Ellen, who was a little over two years old, were thrust into jail [to compel] my relatives [to talk]. He swore my grandmother should never see one of them again till I was brought back. They kept these facts from me ...

"[My daughter was sick and taken to the doctor's house.] Poor little Ellen cried all day to be carried back to prison. ... She knew she was loved in the jail. Her screams and sobs annoyed Mrs. Flint, [who] said, 'Here, Bill, carry this brat back to the jail. I can't stand her noise. If she would be quiet I should like to keep the little minx. She would make a handy waiting-maid for my daughter by and by. But if she staid here, with her white face, I suppose I should either kill her or spoil her. I hope the doctor will sell them as far as wind and water can carry them. As for their mother, her ladyship will find out yet what she gets by running away. She hasn't so much feeling for her children as a cow has for its calf. If she had, she would have come back long ago, to get them out of jail, and save all this expense and trouble. The good-for-nothing hussy! When she is caught, she shall stay in jail, in irons, for one six months, and then be sold to a sugar plantation. I shall see her broke in yet. ...'"

Dr. Norcom became convinced Harriet was in New York and set off to find her, spending considerable money. Her children and brother had been in jail for two months now, costing him more money. Samuel had a slave trader offer Dr. Norcom $900 for her brother and $800 for the children -- very high prices -- but the doctor refused. Yet he needed the money, so he changed his mind, selling the three for $1900, requesting that they be sold out of the state. Instead, they went to live at the grandmother's house.

Dr. Norcom was incensed and threw Harriet's uncle into jail on charges of aiding her escape. Plus, he renewed his pursuit of her, even searching the white woman's house she was hiding in. She moved into a tiny crawlspace her uncle built above a porch/shed on her grandmother's house. This space was only nine feet long and seven feet wide, with a sloping roof that was only three feet high at one end. She couldn't even turn while laying down without hitting her shoulder. The space had no light, heat or ventilation, and rats and mice continually crawled over her. She lived in this crawlspace for seven years, coming out only briefly and rarely at night for exercise. After drilling a small peephole, Harriet could watch her children play outside -- but she could never risk any contact with them.

Harriet managed to have letters mailed from up North so Dr. Norcom would think she was living up there. And, every now and then, Dr. Norcom would take a trip North in pursuit of her. Samuel was elected to Congress and took Harriet's brother with him, but he escaped while on a trip North. In addition, Samuel married. Harriet worried about her children, who were still owned by Samuel. Mrs. Norcom informed the new Mrs. Sawyer who was the father of Harriet's children. Samuel told his new bride the children were motherless; she wanted to see them.

"Mrs. Sands had a sister from Illinois staying with her. This lady, who had no children of her own, was so much pleased with Ellen, that she offered to adopt her, and bring her up as she would a daughter. Mrs. Sands wanted to take Benjamin. When grandmother reported this to me, I was tried almost beyond endurance. Was this all I was to gain by what I had suffered for the sake of having my children free?"

Harriet had her grandmother talk to Samuel, reminding him she was still alive and wanted him to redeem his pledge of emancipating the children. Surprised, he said, "The children are free. I have never intended to claim them as slaves. Linda [Harriet] may decide their fate. In my opinion, they had better be sent to the north. I don't think they are quite safe here. Dr. Flint boasts that they are still in his power. He says they were his daughter's property, and as she was not of age when they were sold, the contract is not legally binding." It was decided that her daughter would be sent to live with Samuel's cousin in Brooklyn, New York.

In 1842, Harriet was offered the chance to escape North via a merchant ship. She and another recently escaped slave dressed as sailors to walk down to the harbor -- a nearly impossible task for Harriet, whose limbs were atrophied from seven years in the cramped hiding space. The captain hid the two women in a tiny cabin. They sailed to Philadelphia, stayed with some Quakers for a short while, then travelled to New York City by train. Despite the apparent freedom of blacks in the North, Harriet was stunned by the rascism:

"This was the first chill to my enthusiasm about the Free States. Colored people were allowed to ride in a filthy box, behind white people, at the south, but there they were not required to pay for the privilege. It made me sad to find how the north aped the customs of slavery."

Harriet was reunited with her daughter soon after, but the situation did not appear as beneficial as she had been led to believe it would be:

"She had changed a good deal in the two years since I parted from her. Signs of neglect could be discerned ..... When I asked if she was well treated, she answered yes; but there was no heartiness in the tone ..... [She] was now nine years old, and she scarcely knew her letters. ..... [The family] all agreed in saying that Ellen was a useful, good girl. Mrs. Hobbs looked me coolly in the face, and said, 'I suppose you know that my cousin, Mr. Sands, has given her to my eldest daughter. She will make a nice waiting-maid for her when she grows up.' ..... "

Harriet found employment as a nursemaid for an English couple, Mr. and Mrs. Willis. She did not tell her employer she was fugitive slave.

"I was far from feeling satisfied with Ellen's situation. She was not well cared for. She sometimes came to New York to visit me; but she generally brought a request from Mrs. Hobbs that I would buy her a pair of shoes, or some article of clothing. This was accompanied by a promise of payment ... but some how or other the pay-day never came. [I feared] their pecuniary embarrassments might induce them to sell my precious young daughter."

Harriet was reacquainted with her brother. She had previously tried contacting him through letters but was informed he was sailing on a ship for several months. She received a letter purportedly from Dr. Flint's son, in reply to her letter to his sister (her legal owner) requesting her consent to sell Harriet.

"..... It is difficult for you to return home as a free person. If you were purchased by your grandmother, it is doubtful whether you would be permitted to remain, although it would be lawful for you to do so. If a servant should be allowed to purchase herself, after absenting herself so long from her owners, and return free, it would have an injurious effect. From your letter, I think your situation must be hard and uncomfortable. Come home. You have it in your power to be reinstated in our affections. We would receive you with open arms and tears of joy. You need not apprehend any unkind treatment, as we have not put ourselves to any trouble or expense to get you. ... [Actually, Harriet knew firsthand of Dr. Norcom's three trips to New York searching for her.]

"You know my sister was always attached to you, and that you were never treated as a slave. You were never put to hard work, nor exposed to field labor. On the contrary, you were taken into the house, and treated as one of us, and almost as free; and we, at least, felt that you were above disgracing yourself by running away. Believing you may be induced to come home voluntarily has induced me to write for my sister. The family will be rejoiced to see you; and your poor old grandmother expressed a great desire to have you come, when she heard your letter read. In her old age she needs the consolation of having her children round her. .....

"If you are contented to stay away from your old grandmother, your child, and the friends who love you, stay where you are. We shall never trouble ourselves to apprehend you. But should you prefer to come home, we will do all that we can to make you happy. If you do not wish to remain in the family, I know that father, by our persuasion, will be induced to let you be purchased by any person you may choose in our community. You will please answer this as soon as possible, and let us know your decision. Sister sends much love to you. In the mean time believe me your sincere friend and well wisher."

Harriet knew it was not the handwriting or prose of young master Norcom. "I knew, ... though the writing was disguised, I had been made too unhappy by it, in former years, not to recognize at once the hand of Dr. Flint." Harriet had her grandmother send her son via a ship directly to New York, but then she received a letter from a friend that Dr. Norcom was on his way north again to find her. She went to stay with her brother in Boston and wrote her grandmother to send her son there.

"Early one morning, there was a loud rap at my door, and in rushed Benjamin, all out of breath. 'O mother!' he exclaimed, 'here I am! I run all the way; and I come all alone. How d'you do?'

"O reader, can you imagine my joy? No, you cannot, unless you have been a slave mother. Benjamin rattled away as fast as his tongue could go. 'Mother, why don't you bring Ellen here? I went over to Brooklyn to see her, and she felt very bad when I bid her good by. She said, 'O Ben, I wish I was going too.' I thought she'd know ever so much; but she don't know so much as I do; for I can read, and she can't. And, mother, I lost all my clothes coming. What can I do to get some more? I 'spose free boys can get along here at the north as well as white boys.'

"I did not like to tell the sanguine, happy little fellow how much he was mistaken."

Harriet left her son with her brother, after knowing Dr. Norcom was back home. She returned to her nursemaid duties, and a summer vacation with her employers opened Harriet's eyes to more rascism.

"When the tea bell rang, I took little Mary and followed the other nurses. ... A young man... finally pointed me to a seat at the lower end of [the table]. As there was but one chair, I sat down and took the child in my lap. Whereupon the young man came to me and said, in the blandest manner possible, 'Will you please to seat the little girl in the chair, and stand behind it and feed her? After they have done, you will be shown to the kitchen, where you will have a good supper.'

"This was the climax! I found it hard to preserve my self-control, when I looked round, and saw women who were nurses, as I was, and only one shade lighter in complexion, eyeing me with a defiant look, as if my presence were a contamination. However, I said nothing. I quietly took the child in my arms, went to our room, and refused to go to the table again. Mr. Bruce ordered meals to be sent to the room for little Mary and I. This answered for a few days; but the waiters of the establishment were white, and they soon began to complain, saying they were not hired to wait on negroes. The landlord requested Mr. Bruce to send me down to my meals, because his servants rebelled against bringing them up, and the colored servants of other boarders were dissatisfied because all were not treated alike.

"My answer was that the colored servants ought to be dissatisfied with themselves, for not having too much self-respect to submit to such treatment; that there was no difference in the price of board for colored and white servants, and there was no justification for difference of treatment. I staid a month after this, and finding I was resolved to stand up for my rights, they concluded to treat me well. Let every colored man and woman do this, and eventually we shall cease to be trampled under foot by our oppressors."

Then Harriet found out the brother of the woman Harriet's daughter lived with had apparently written to Dr. Norcom, saying Harriet could be taken quite easily and there were enough witnesses who could vouch for her being his property. Harriet finally admitted she was a fugitive slave, and her employer enlisted a judge and a lawyer, who advised Harriet to vacate the city immediately. She went to her brother again, this time taking her daughter with her.

"She was mine by birth, and she was also mine by Southern law ... I did not feel that she was safe unless I had her with me. Mrs. Hobbs, who felt badly about her brother's treachery, yielded to my entreaties ... She came to me clad in very thin garments, all outgrown ... It was late in October ...

"The day after my arrival [in Boston] was one of the happiest of my life. I felt as if I was beyond the reach of the bloodhounds; and, for the first time during many years, I had both my children together with me. They greatly enjoyed their reunion, and laughed and chatted merrily. I watched them with a swelling heart. Their every motion delighted me.

"I could not feel safe in New York, and I accepted the offer of a friend, [sharing a house]. I represented to Mrs. Hobbs that Ellen must have some schooling, and must remain with me for that purpose. She felt ashamed of being unable to read or spell at her age, so ... I instructed her myself till she was fitted to enter an intermediate school."

In the spring of 1845, Harriet learned that her beloved former employer died and Mr. Willis wanted to visit relatives in England. He wanted Harriet to come and care for his daughter. Harriet placed her son in a trade, left her daughter at home with the friend to attend school, and then realized the true meaning of freedom.

"For the first time in my life I was in a place where I was treated according to my deportment, without reference to my complexion. I felt as if a great millstone had been lifted from my breast. Ensconced in a pleasant room, with my dear little charge, I laid my head on my pillow, for the first time, with the delightful consciousness of pure, unadulterated freedom. .....

"I remained abroad ten months, which was much longer than I had anticipated. During all that time, I never saw the slightest symptom of prejudice against color. Indeed, I entirely forgot it, till the time came for us to return to America."

Upon returning home, Harriet found her daughter well, but her son was gone. For several months, everyhing had gone well in his apprenticeship. He was well-liked by the master tradesman and his fellow apprentices.

"...but one day they accidentally discovered a fact they had never before suspected--that he was colored! This at once transformed him into a different being. Some of the apprentices were Americans, others American-born Irish; and it was offensive to their dignity to have a 'nigger' among them, after they had been told that he was a 'nigger.' They began by treating him with silent scorn, and finding that he returned the same, they resorted to insults and abuse. He was too spirited a boy to stand that, and he went off. Being desirous to do something to support himself, and having no one to advise him, he shipped for a whaling voyage. When I received these tidings I shed many tears, and bitterly reproached myself for having left him so long."

Harriet received a letter from Dr. Norcom's daughter, now married: "I am very anxious that you should come and live with me. If you are not willing to come, you may purchase yourself; but I should prefer having you live with me." Harriet did not respond, but knew her former owners were apprised of her movements, knowing she'd been to Europe. Her brother offered to send Louisa to boarding school. Then he decided to go to California, and they agreed that Joseph would go with him. Alone again, Harriet looked for employment again. She called on Mr. Willis to see the daughter and found he had remarried, with a new little baby. He asked Harriet to return as nursemaid. Her only hesitation was passage of the new Fugitive Slave Law.

"About the time that I reentered the Bruce family, an event occurred of disastrous import to the colored people. The slave Hamlin, the first fugitive that came under the new law, was given up by the bloodhounds of the north to the bloodhounds of the south. It was the beginning of a reign of terror to the colored population. .....

"I seldom ventured into the streets ... What a disgrace to a city calling itself free, that inhabitants, guiltless of offence, and seeking to perform their duties conscientiously, should be condemned to live in such incessant fear, and have nowhere to turn for protection! This state of things, of course, gave rise to many impromptu vigilance committees."

Then Harriet learned that Dr. Norcom was again trying to pursue her, having learned that she was back with her former employer.

"... I learned afterwards that my dress, and that of Mrs. Bruce’s children, had been described to him by some of the Northern tools, which slaveholders employ for their base purposes, and then indulge in sneers at their cupidity and mean servility.

"I immediately informed Mrs. Bruce of my danger, and she took prompt measures for my safety. My place as nurse could not be supplied immediately, and this generous, sympathizing lady proposed that I should carry her baby away. It was a comfort to me to have the child with me; for the heart is reluctant to be torn away from every object it loves. But how few mothers would have consented to have one of their own babes become a fugitive..... When I spoke of the sacrifice ... she replied, 'It is better for you to have baby with you, Linda; for if they get on your track, they will be obliged to bring the child to me; and then, if there is a possibility of saving you, you shall be saved.' "

Harriet's employer, Cornelia Grinnell Willis, spirited her and the baby away to a friend's house in the country. They stayed there a month, until they were certain Dr. Norcom was back home. Some months later, Harriet received a letter from her grandmother that the doctor had died.

"I remembered how he had defrauded my grandmother of the hard earnings she had loaned; how he had tried to cheat her out of the freedom her mistress had promised her, and how he had persecuted her children; and I thought to myself that she was a better Christian than I was, if she could entirely forgive him. I cannot say, with truth, that the news of my old master's death softened my feelings towards him. There are wrongs which even the grave does not bury. The man was odious to me while he lived, and his memory is odious now."

But even with his death, Harriet was not safe. Legally, she was still the property of Dr. Norcom's daughter, who was now married and of age. "I was well aware what I had to expect from the family of Flints; and my fears were confirmed by a letter from the south, warning me to be on my guard, because Mrs. Flint openly declared that her daughter could not afford to lose so valuable a slave as I was."

Harriet checked the newspaper daily for the list of new arrivals. One night she forgot and, instead, checked in the morning.

"Reader, if you have never been a slave, you cannot imagine the acute sensation of suffering at my heart, when I read the names of Mr. and Mrs. Dodge, at a hotel in Courtland Street. It was a third-rate hotel, and that circumstance convinced me of the truth of what I had heard, that they were short of funds and had need of my value, as they valued me; and that was by dollars and cents. ...

"It was impossible to tell how near the enemy was. He might have passed and repassed the house while we were sleeping. He might at that moment be waiting to pounce upon me if I ventured out of doors. I had never seen the husband of my young mistress, and therefore I could not distinguish him from any other stranger."

Cornelia secreted Harriet away again. Sure enough, visitors came to the house to inquire about Harriet and her daughter.

"Mrs. Bruce came to me and entreated me to leave the city the next morning. She said her house was watched, and it was possible that some clew [clue] to me might be obtained. I refused to take her advice. ... I was weary of flying from pillar to post. I had been chased during half my life, and it seemed as if the chase was never to end. .....

"I had been told that Mr. Dodge said his wife had never signed away her right to my children, and if he could not get me, he would take them. This it was, more than any thing else, that roused such a tempest in my soul. Benjamin was with his uncle William in California, but my innocent young daughter had come to spend a vacation with me. I thought of what I had suffered in slavery at her age, and my heart was like a tiger's when a hunter tries to seize her young."

Harriet and Louisa set off through a snow storm for New England again. There, Harriet received letters, under an assumed name, from Cornelia that her purported owners were still trying to find her. Cornelia said she was going to end the persecution and buy Harriet's freedom.

"I felt grateful for the kindness that prompted this offer, but the idea was not so pleasant to me as might have been expected. The more my mind had become enlightened, the more difficult it was for me to consider myself an article of property; and to pay money to those who had so grievously oppressed me seemed like taking from my sufferings the glory of triumph. I wrote to Mrs. Bruce, thanking her, but saying that being sold from one owner to another seemed too much like slavery; that such a great obligation could not be easily cancelled; and that I preferred to go to my brother in California.

"Without my knowledge, Mrs. Bruce employed a gentleman in New York to enter into negotiations with Mr. Dodge. He proposed to pay three hundred dollars down, if Mr. Dodge would sell me, and enter into obligations to relinquish all claim to me or my children forever after. He who called himself my master said he scorned so small an offer for such a valuable servant. The gentleman replied, 'You can do as you choose, sir. If you reject this offer you will never get any thing; for the woman has friends who will convey her and her children out of the country.'

"Mr. Dodge concluded that 'half a loaf was better than no bread,' and he agreed to the proffered terms. ....

"My brain reeled ... So I was sold at last! A human being sold in the free city of New York! The bill of sale is on record, and future generations will learn from it that women were articles of traffic in New York, late in the nineteenth century of the Christian religion. ... I do not like to look upon it. 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.

"I had objected to having my freedom bought, yet I must confess that when it was done I felt as if a heavy load had been lifted from my weary shoulders. When I rode home in the cars I was no longer afraid to unveil my face and look at people as they passed. I should have been glad to have met Daniel Dodge himself; to have had him seen me and known me, that he might have mourned over the untoward circumstances which compelled him to sell me for three hundred dollars."

Harriet was finally free -- in 1852.

At some point while in New York, maybe during the times recounted in her autobiography, Harriet became involved with abolitionists through Frederick Douglass' paper, The North Star. Over time, friends convinced Harriet to write her autobiography. She considered it for some time before beginning it, and she changed not only her name (using a pseudonym to publish under) but also the names of everyone else. (Some sources believe she began writing this secretly while working for Mr. and Mrs. Willis, before they knew she was a fugitive slave.)

Some parts of her book were published by Horace Greeley in his newspaper, the New York Tribune, and her accounts of the sexual harassment and abuse of herself and other female slaves shocked the American public. In 1858, Harriet finished her book and traveled to England to try to get it published. She found it difficult to get published both there and in the U.S.

In 1860, Thayer & Eldridge publishers planned to print it, and even made stereotype plates, but the firm went bankrupt before it was finished. Harriet tried for years to find another publisher, finally getting the book printed in 1861. Most people reading it thought it a work of fiction by a white writer. And, although she never referenced experiences graphically, her book was the first open discussion about the secret sexual aspect of slavery. Lydia Maria Child, editor of the book, defended the inclusion of the material in her preface:

"This peculiar phase of slavery has generally been kept veiled; but the public ought to be made acquainted with its monstrous features, and I willingly take the responsibility of presenting them with the veil withdrawn. I do this for the sake of my sisters in bondage, who are suffering wrongs so foul, that our ears are too delicate to listen to them."

Harriet's autobiography also upset people by her highlighting the role the Christian church played in maintaining slavery:

"After the alarm caused by Nat Turner's insurrection had subsided, the slaveholders came to the conclusion that it would be well to give the slaves enough of religious instruction to keep them from murdering their masters. The Episcopal clergyman offered to hold a separate service on Sundays for their benefit.

"When the Rev. Mr. Pike came ... he gave out the portions he wished them to repeat or respond to. His text was, 'Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ. ..... Give strict heed unto my words. You are rebellious sinners. Your hearts are filled with all manner of evil. 'Tis the devil who tempts you. God is angry with you, and will surely punish you, if you don't forsake your wicked ways. ..... If you disobey your earthly master, you offend your heavenly Master. .....'

"A clergyman who goes to the south, for the first time, has usually some feeling, however vague, that slavery is wrong. The slaveholder suspects this, and plays his game accordingly. He makes himself as agreeable as possible; talks on theology, and other kindred topics. The southerner invites him to talk with these slaves. He asks them if they want to be free, and they say, 'O, no, massa.' This is sufficient to satisfy him. He comes home ... to complain of the exaggerations of abolitionists. He ... [has] seen slavery for himself; that it is a beautiful 'patriarchal institution;' that the slaves don't want their freedom. .....

"What does he know of the half-starved wretches toiling from dawn till dusk on the plantations? of mothers shrieking for their children, torn from their arms by slave traders? of young girls dragged down into moral filth? of pools of blood around the whipping post? of hounds trained to tear human flesh? of men screwed into cotton gins to die? The slaveholder showed him none of these things, and the slaves dared not tell of them if he had asked them."

In 1863, Harriet and Louisa moved to Alexandria, Virginia, and were active in the abolition movement before the Civil War. During it, they raised money for black refugees. Harriet also established The Jacobs Free School in Alexandria, providing black teachers for the refugees. In 1865, after the war, they moved to Savannah, Georgia, continuing their relief work. After the war, and short stops to Cambridge and England, they moved to Washington, D.C. in 1877 and worked on civil rights efforts, trying to improve the conditions of recently freed slaves. Harriet also helped establish the National Association of Colored Women.

Harriet died on March 7, 1897, at the age of 84. She is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

DATE OF DEATH: March 7, 1897

PLACE OF DEATH: Washington, D.C.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Lyons, Mary E. Letters From a Slave girl: the Story of Harriet Jacobs. New York: Scribner's, 1992.

Jacobs, Harriet A. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987.

WEB SITES:

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl - American Studies at the University of Virginia (hypertext edition with contextual material)

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl - Scribbling Women (biography, synopsis, interpretation)

Harriet Jacobs - Spartacus Educational (brief profile and excerpts of her writing)

Harriet Ann Jacobs: Writer and Activist, 1813 - 1897

Harriet Jacobs - Africans in America

Harriet Jacobs - Voices from the Gaps, Women Writers of Color

QUOTE:

"... it would have been more pleasant to me to have been silent about my own history ... I want to add my testimony to that of abler pens to convince the people of the free states what slavery really is. Only by experience can anyone realize how deep, and dark, and foul that pit of abominations. May the blessings of God rest upon this imperfect effort on behalf of my persecuted people."
-- Harriet Jacobs

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