Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Description

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs was one of the first autobiographical narratives about the struggle for freedom by female slaves and an account of the sexual harassment and abuse they endured. Published in 1861 under the pseudonym Linda Brent, the book is an in-depth chronological account of Jacobs's life as a slave, and the decisions and choices she made to gain freedom for herself and her children. Born into slavery in 1813, she managed to escape to New York in 1842. The book addresses the struggles and sexual abuse that young women slaves faced on the plantations, their struggles with rape, the pressure to have sex at an early age, the selling of their children, and the treatment of female slaves by their mistresses. Jacobs feared that the publication of the book would cause contempt for her - instead it caused widespread respect for her.

This book has 83,101 words, 133 pages in the PDF version, and was originally published in 1861.

Production notes: This ebook of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl was published by Global Grey on the 5th June 2018, and updated on the 17th April 2022. The artwork used for the cover is 'Dressing for the Carnival' by Winslow Homer.