Abstract
The paper argues that published slave narratives such as "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" by Harriet Jacobs are of historical importance, for they provide the best evidence available regarding the personal experiences, feelings and reactions of black men and women to their enslavement, and present direct and compelling personal accounts of slavery which differ considerably from those available in general history books. The paper asserts that primary sources such as Harriet Jacob's slave narrative provide a much needed human perspective to the study of slavery, for they examine religious and gender aspects of slavery while revealing stark and disturbing truths about the inhumanity of this institution that many secondary sources and mainstream histories gloss over or ignore altogether.

From the Paper
"Published slave narratives such as "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" by Harriet Jacobs are of historical importance, for they provide the best evidence available regarding the personal experiences, feelings and reactions of black men and women to their enslavement, and present direct and compelling personal accounts of slavery which differ considerably from those available in general history books. Primary sources such as Harriet..."

Tags:life, slave, girl

Abstract
This paper reports on several chapters from the book "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" by Harriet Jacobs, telling of her life as a slave to Dr. Flint, who wants her body and soul but whom she hates more and more as time passes. The paper explains how the book shows the nature of slave life, especially for women, and the inability of the slave to have any control over her own life.

From the Paper
"Harriet Jacobs in her book Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl states that she was born a slave and had a happy childhood until she learned that she was a slave at six years of age. Her father was a carpenter allowed to work at his trade, and though he wanted to purchase his children, he was never able to do so. She had a younger brother. She discusses the travails of members of her family and notes how all were treated as property and little more by their masters."

Tags:slave, history, chapters

Abstract
The paper discusses Harriet Jacobs' "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" and asserts that it remains one of the most captivating and compelling autobiographical slave narratives. The paper looks at the major themes explored, including the different types of slavery, the Fugitive Slave Law, religion and spiritual salvation and the fight for freedom. The paper opines that Harriet Jacobs' book is interesting, historically relevant and easy to read.

From the Paper
"Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is an autobiographical narrative recounting the author's journey to freedom and the impact she made on the abolitionist movement. She has no formal credentials for writing the narrative and in fact was assisted in compiling it by the abolitionist activist Lydia Maria Child. However, her personal experiences are all Jacobs needs to bring her story to the world: a heart-wrenching series of anecdotes that illustrate the horrors of slavery. Her credibility lies mainly in there having been accurate records of her life, and the entire book is comprised of her stories and personal reflection on them."

Tags:Fugitive, Slave, Law, religion, salvation, freedom, abolitionists

Abstract
This paper reviews Harriet Jacobs' autobiography "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl". This paper discusses how, in her autobiography, Harriet Jacobs used domestic ideology of violated womanhood to sway her Northern audience to the cause of abolition.

From the Paper
"In Chapter 1, Jacobs stresses the angelic quality of her early upbringing, much like the idealized version of childhood cherished in the 19th century portrayal of a happy home. " I was so fondly shielded that I never dreamed I was a piece of merchandise, trusted to them for safe keeping, and liable to be demanded of them at any moment." She also notes that "in complexion my parents were a light shade of brownish yellow, and were termed mulattos," a not-so subtle mention of the fact that her parents were at least partially white, creating an evident racial as well as domestic sense of sympathy between herself and her white readers whom she wished to convert to the abolitionist cause." Her uncle "inherited the complexion my grandmother had derived from Anglo-Saxon ancestors." (Jacobs, Chapter 1, http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/JACOBS/hjch1.htm)
The plantation owner of Jacobs' maternal grandmother set her free. Thus Jacobs stresses that she was born, in some sense, free, in a venue of conventional, almost white hearth and home. This sense of conversation with the reader is further underlined by Jacobs' reference to the reader in an intimate fashion, as if she or he is beside her side. "The reader probably knows that no promise or writing given to a slave is legally binding; for, according to Southern laws, a slave, being property, can hold no property. When my grandmother lent her hard earnings to her mistress, she trusted solely to her honor. The honor of a slaveholder to a slave!".

Tags:slave, immorality, corrupted, abuse, vulnerable, female

Abstract
This paper analyzes the slave narrative, "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl", by Harriet Jacobs, and discusses the contradiction Jacobs illuminates concerning America's values of freedom and the institution of slavery in a supposedly free society.

From the Paper
"In doing so, Jacobs made a dual claim. On one hand, by making slavery against the liberty of American values, she suggests that America is basically a free nation, and slavery exists in contradiction to its basic values. However, by telling her own tale, she suggests her own uniqueness and alienation from supposedly ordinary American society. Jacob's own complex racial identity, which allowed her to pass for white at times, and yet also resulted in an enforced sexual relationship with one of her "owners" Dr. Flint not only makes for a compelling tale?it forces and forced readers to acknowledge the constructed nature of "blackness" and "whiteness" as identities, rather than as mere shades of skin. Jacobs was, because of her appearance, able to perform both, and because of her identity as a female was able to give birth to a child apparently white, yet deemed a slave by a supposedly liberated American society, because a slave had mothered the child."

Tags:autobiography, bondage, escape, liberty, blackness, whiteness, slaveholder, abolitionists

Abstract
This paper examines the sexual duality in the life of Linda, a slave girl and the main character from Harriet Jacobs's "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl". The paper shows how sexuality informs the life of an African American slave woman in ways that cannot be articulated by free women from the North or even by African American male slaves.

From the Paper
"Published in 1861, Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is the first published narrative authored by a woman who was a former slave. However, despite this distinction and the earlier slave narratives of Frederick Douglass and John Brown, Jacob chose to conceal her identity and to publish under the pseudonym Linda Brent."

Tags:sexual, narrative, humiliation, bondage, southern, patriarchy, victim, master, powerlessness

Abstract
This paper explains that, in recent decades, Harriet Jacobs' "Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl", published in 1861, is being interpreted as a narrative not only about a slave but also about a woman, a victim of a sexual abuser and a mother who sacrifices her chances for freedom to protect her children. The Christianity of the slaves in the story, the author relates, is demonstrated by the ways they use their Christian faith as a tool in the lives of slave and the master and mistress. The paper concludes that Jacob's narrative still holds relevance in the need for Christians to fight racism, sexism and discrimination.

From the Paper
"This is designed to offend the reader's Christian sense of honor and decent behavior. One is reminded of the old maid, buying the old female slave in order to release her, and this compares unfavorably with it. It is also made clear that Dr Flint takes sexual advantage of the women under his power, and several have his babies, although Mrs. Flint is callous to their suffering. ...
"As we are told that the baby is 'nearly white', the presumption that Dr Flint is the husband, as he is of other children."

Tags:baby, sexual abuse, christianity wife discrimination

Abstract
This paper examines how Harriet Jacob's autobiography, "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl", is a traditionally fashioned slave narrative printed around 1861. In it, one sees a fascinating and tragic personal view of the American past that both parallels traditional histories and also highlights elements of those histories that might otherwise escape notice. It shows how one can see in this story a definite sense of bowing to overwhelming, white preconceptions and moralities, particularly in terms of the expected behavior of a "virtuous" unmarried girl, and how there is also a large amount of what must have then been controversial condemnation of many of the aspects of American culture.

From the Paper
"The setting for this tale begins in the more Northernly of the slave-owning states, and at the end is transferred to the actual Northern Free States. These setting allow the author not only criticize the "peculiar institution" of slavery in the South, but also to make cutting and vital observations about problems in the North such as prejudice and laws which returned slaves to their masters. One of Jacobs main points regarding slavery is a refutation of the idea that slavery is in any way beneficial for society at large. She refutes this idea by trying to expose the corruption that exists across Southern culture as a result of slavery. One gets a sense of rot and complicity from her description of the Southern setting which is obviously designed to act against the idea of slavery."

Tags:prejudice, masters, north, south

Abstract
This paper examines how in Harriet Jacobs' novel, "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl", the narrator takes several steps to assert her status as a person and to make a case against the dehumanization inherent in slavery. It looks at how the dehumanization of Jacobs' and other slaves in the novel is clearly shown through the sexual exploitation that they face and the separation of women and their children. Jacobs continually fights against this degradation and asserts herself as a person. It also discusses how ultimately, Jacobs is successful in obtaining her freedom through extraordinary perseverance and force of will.

From the Paper
"Slavery soon became a harsh reality for Harriet. Slaves were owned by white masters and were to do exactly what was asked of them with no exceptions. Black slaves were not seen as humans but merely as property. Slavery for men and women was barbaric and inhumane, but for women, slavery had heart wrenching aspects. "Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women" (Chapter 14). What she means by this is that women would have to see their children sold and separated as soon as they became profitable. She wanted to make sure that she and her children would not have to endure that fate."

Tags:slavery, blacks, freedom

Abstract
This paper relates how Linda Brent in "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" draws in the reader through her own words and experiences of the pains she suffered through her life in the South. The author feel that the writer puts her own emotive attitude into the text to give the words meaning and a passion that only comes from the soul. The author points out that Jacobs begins with a brief apology to the reader, not for her words or her style, but for their own minds thinking that her work may be a fictional piece of writing.

From the Paper
"Jacobs? words have had an effect upon me. If by understanding the true account of one slave girl, we can understand the true meaning of slavery. What happened to the slaves in the Deep South was not just a matter of white supremacy but white hatred. This story can be seen to be in its rawest sense an emotional work. If it were written by anyone but an ex slave, it would not have the same effect, the words come from the heart and not from the mind."

Tags:nonfiction, south, attitude, emotion, words