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Cover of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet A. Jacobs

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

  • 238 pages · about 4 hours
  • First published 1861
  • 386 editions
  • Free to read

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1 About this book

The true story of an individual's struggle for self-identity, self-preservation, and freedom, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl remains among the few extant slave narratives written by a woman.

This autobiographical account chronicles the remarkable odyssey of Harriet Jacobs (1813–1897) whose dauntless spirit and faith carried her from a life of servitude and degradation in North Carolina to liberty and reunion with her children in the North.

Written and published in 1861 after Jacobs' harrowing escape from a vile and predatory master, the memoir delivers a powerful and unflinching portrayal of the abuses and hypocrisy of the master-slave relationship. Jacobs writes frankly of the horrors she suffered as a slave, her eventual escape after several unsuccessful attempts, and her seven years in self-imposed exile, hiding in a coffin-like "garret" attached to her grandmother's porch.

Good for readers who want: a true life story, history, a classic, and a book they can read free online.

  • Biography
  • Women, united states
  • Biography & autobiography
  • History
  • Classics
  • United states, history
  • Historical
  • United states, biography

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3 About Harriet A. Jacobs

1813–1897

Harriet Jacobs (1813 or 1815 – March 7, 1897) was an enslaved African-American abolitionist and writer whose autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, published in 1861 under the pseudonym Linda Brent, is now considered an "American classic". Born into slavery in Edenton, North Carolina, she was sexually harassed by her enslaver.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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