1. Jacobs’ autobiography is accompanied by two advocacy letters attesting to the work’s authenticity — one by Amy Post, a white Quaker abolitionist, the other by George W. Lowther, whom Brent’s editor, Lydia Maria Child, identifies as “a highly respectable colored citizen of Boston.” These testimonials reveal that had Brent […]

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abolitionists people who fought to end slavery. Anglo-Saxon a member of the Germanic peoples (Angles, Saxons, and Jutes) that invaded England (5th-6th centuries A.D.) and were there at the time of the Norman Conquest. antiquaries people who collect or study relics and ancient works of art. Anti-Slavery Society an organization […]

Read more Study Help Full Glossary for Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a slave narrative, an autobiography (first-person narrative) by an enslaved black American woman who describes her experiences in slavery and her escape from bondage in the South to freedom in the North. The slave narrative is closely related to the memoir […]

Read more Critical Essays Slave Narrative Conventions

Although the U.S. Constitution (approved September 17, 1787) contains no direct references to slavery, it includes several indirect references to that “peculiar institution.” The following are the references as well as translations of the legal language. Article I, Section 2 . . . Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned […]

Read more Critical Essays We the People. . . “: Slavery and the U.S. Constitution

Introduction Many U.S. history books still contend that enslaved Africans were generally resigned to their fate and that slave revolts were rare and unusual occurrences. This attitude, which was common among slaveholders and those tasked with recording our nation’s history, perpetuated the belief that slaves were generally passive and complacent […]

Read more Critical Essays Slave Rebellions and Runaway Slaves

As Linda laments the birth of her daughter, Ellen, she says “Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women.” Why was slavery “far more terrible for women”? Because, as Jacobs’ story so poignantly illustrates, in addition to the horrors and brutalities endured by enslaved men, […]

Read more Critical Essays The Feminist Perspective

The slave narrative is a form of autobiography with a unique structure and distinctive themes that traces the narrator’s path from slavery to freedom. Although traditional slave narratives such as Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Frederick Douglass’ Narrative exemplify these works, numerous contemporary black authors […]

Read more Critical Essays The Slave Narrative Tradition in African American Literature

Personal Background “God . . . gave me a soul that burned for freedom and a heart nerved with determination to suffer even unto death in pursuit of liberty.” In this excerpt from a letter written by Harriet Jacobs to her friend, the abolitionist Amy Post, Jacobs expresses her determination […]

Read more Harriet Ann Jacobs Biography

Linda’s friendship with the second Mrs. Bruce is just as strong as, if not stronger than, her relationship with the first Mrs. Bruce. The second Mrs. Bruce is an American woman who, like her predecessor, abhors slavery, and she does everything she can to help Linda maintain her freedom from […]

Read more Character Analysis The Second Mrs. Bruce

Linda’s friendship with the first Mrs. Bruce, an Englishwoman who abhors slavery, enables her to make the difficult adjustment to her new life in New York. Through her role as nurse to Mrs. Bruce’s daughter, Mary, Linda begins to trust again and experiences a new kind of relationship with a […]

Read more Character Analysis The First Mrs. Bruce