Two
weeks ago, in my American Government and Society Honors class, we were all
asked to read one of two books or both of them if we had time. One of the books was an autobiography of
Frederick Douglass, titled, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An
American Slave, Written by Himself.
The second book was another autobiography, but of Harriet Jacobs (pen
name Linda Brent), titled, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by
Herself.
Both
of these books are slave narratives and both take place through the
1820s-1840s. I didn’t have time to read
both, so I chose to read Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Reading this book, I learned a lot that I
didn’t really know at all before. Of
course, I knew that slaves were treated badly and I knew that women and girl
slaves were used for sexual pleasure for their masters at times, but I never
realized exactly how bad things were for some slaves. Reading from an actual account of what
Harriet Jacobs went through, I saw through her eyes and words, what life was
like for her and how terrible and hard it was for her.
“Northerners
know nothing at all about Slavery. They
think it is perpetual bondage only. They
have no conception of the depth of degradation involved in that word, SLAVERY;
if they had, they would never cease their efforts until so horrible a system
was overthrown.” – A Woman of
North Carolina
We
don’t know how seriously terrible slavery was.
We know it was bad, sure. But do
we really know HOW bad it was? Do we put
ourselves in their shoes and try to imagine what it would be like if it were us
who was in slavery?
“Only by
experience can anyone realize how deep, and dark and foul is that pit of abominations.”
- Harriet Jacobs talking about slavery
After
almost seven years of hiding in a tiny garret above her grandmother’s home,
Harriet Jacobs took a step other slaves dared to dream in 1842; she secretly
boarded a boat in Edenton, N.C., bound for Philadelphia, New York and,
eventually, freedom. Her flight, and the
events leading up to it, are documented in her heart wrenching autobiography, Incidents
in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself.
Jacobs
wrote this book in the 1850s but it wasn’t published until 1861, three years
before the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Lincoln, declaring
“that all persons held as slaves” within the Confederate states “are, and
henceforward shall be free.” Even though
Jacobs is living in the North in 1861, life is still a bit of a struggle for
her. Her book was written so she could
try
“…to convince
the people of the Free States what slavery really is.” – Harriet Jacobs
During
this time, it was unusual for slaves to read and write, so self-publishing a
first-hand account of slavery’s atrocities was extraordinary.
The
first thing that caught my attention was the first paragraph of the preface.
“Reader be
assured this narrative is no fiction. I
am aware that some of my adventures may seem incredible; but they are,
nevertheless, strictly true. I have not
exaggerated the wrongs inflicted by Slavery; on the contrary, my descriptions
fall far short of the facts.”
Jacobs
starts her autobiography with these boldly stated instructions to her mostly
white readers. Jacob knows that many
white northerners would be unwilling to accept her story, so she asserted her
authority over her narrative from the start.
It sounds as if Jacobs is commanding her readers to “be assured,”
establishing an active and confident narrative voice. Also, Jacobs is about to make her sexual
transgressions public, and she cannot trust genteel readers to be
sympathetic. Therefore, she lets her
audience know that whatever their interpretation of her story, she will remain
firmly in control of it.
”When
he told me that I was made for his use, made to obey his command in everything;
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.”
I
love this part. She realizes that
although Dr. Flint has complete and legal authority over her, she still has the
power to resist him. His prodding causes
her to erupt into the rebelliousness that defines her character and directs the
course of her future. She has longed to
take control of her own destiny and she knows that she will never be able to
bear slavery passively, and notes that the “war of [her] life had begun.” She realizes that although Flint owns her
body, she can remain spiritually free.
I
think it is important that she has realized this. She’s not letting her spirit stay in bondage
to Dr. Flint. Even though he has abused
her sexually and mentally, she doesn’t make those unfortunate events define who
she is. She believes that she can still
make it out of slavery and she has the will power to do it.
If
you have never read this book, then I highly suggest you put it on the top of
your list of books to read right now. It
is an amazing piece of literature that provides an eye opener to how horrible
slavery really was.
