"Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" Remains Powerful Text

Born into slavery, Harriet Jacobs was a child unaware of her own predicament.

"...though we were all slaves, I was so fondly shielded that I never dreamed that I was a piece of merchandise" she wrote in her autobiography "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" published in 1861 under the name "Linda Brent."[1]

Under the protection of her mother, Delilah, Jacobs recalled a happy childhood in a comfortable home. When Delilah passed, six-year-old Jacobs' comfort continued when she moved into the home of her mother's mistress, Margaret Horniblow. Horniblow taught Harriet to read and sew and attended to Jacobs' needs.

But when Jacobs was twelve years old, the kind and attentive Horniblow also passed. Ownership of Jacobs passed to the Horniblow's three year old niece and, by proxy, the niece's father, a Dr. James Norcom. Thus began Jacobs' life of challenging hardships.

By the time Jacobs was fifteen years old, Norcom was already harassing her with foul whisperings in her ear which became increasingly more aggressive tactics to have the young Jacobs. He even went so far as to build a cottage for Jacobs four mile from town to keep his intentions towards the slave girl away from his wife's suspicions.

Jacobs was equally determined to thwart Norcom's every effort. She became involved with an unmarried white lawyer, Samuel Sawyer, with the hope that, having a child by this lawyer, would irate Norcom to the point of selling her.

Norcom refused to sell Jacobs, even after she had another child with Sawyer. Norcom continued his harassment of Jacobs for the next seven years, threatening to sell her children if she refused his sexual advances.

It was at the close of those seven years that Jacobs learned Norcom was planning to put her children to work as plantation slaves. This proved to be the point at which Jacobs decided she had had enough of abuse and harassment from her owner.

Jacobs escaped from Norcom's grasp, staying with friends, both black and white, until she came to live in a crawlspace above her grandmother's porch.

In the meantime, Sawyer bought Jacobs' children and they, too, came to live with Jacobs' grandmother.

But Jacobs was forced to remain in hiding as Norcom refused to give up looking for her. The space where Jacobs lived was about nine feet long, seven feet wide and the sloped ceiling was only three feet high at its highest point. Jacobs shared this space with rats, mice and other insects with no light and no ventilation.

Jacobs made a small hole in the outside wall of the crawlspace so she could watch her children play. She only came out at night to get some exercise.

Jacobs lived like this for seven years.

By this time, it was the year 1842. Louisa, Jacobs' daughter, was sent to New York to be a waiting-maid. It was time for Jacobs to move on as well. She, along with her brother John Jacobs, joined Louisa in New York in 1845.

There Jacobs went to work as a nursemaid for Nathaniel Parker Willis and his wife Mary Stace Willis. After Mary died, Jacobs continued caring for Nathaniel Willis and daughter Imogen, even traveling to England with them.

Nathaniel Willis was a writer, editor and poet who rubbed elbows with the likes of Edgar Allen Poe, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Charles Dickens. He was also the brother of Sara Willis who wrote under the name Fanny Fern, "Fern Leaves" and "Ruth Hall, A Domestic Tale of the Present Time."

After her return from England, Jacobs lived in Boston with her daughter and brother, John for several months.

When Jacobs was informed a number of years later that Norcom was, once again, on her trail, Nathaniel Willis' second wife, Cornelia Grinnell Willis, paid $300 for Jacobs and then gave her her freedom.

Jacobs began writing letters to newspapers, commenting on articles. It didn't take long for Jacobs' friends to convince her to write her own life story.

However, Jacobs continued in the employee of Willis at his home in Idlewild. It was there, sitting in an upstairs nursery while Willis was in his study working on "Outdoors at Idlewild," that Jacobs worked on the manuscript for "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl."

The New York Tribune began publishing the book in serial form until the sexual harassment and abuse became noticeable. Considered too shocking for most readers, the Tribune ceased publication of the serial before completion.

Two publishing houses showed interest in publishing the completed manuscript. Phillips and Samson closed shop before it could be published as did the Thayer and Eldridge publishing house. However, through Thayer and Eldridge, Jacobs did get the opportunity to meet Lydia Maria Child. Child, who wrote "Over the River and Through the Woods" was a prolific writer of the time, having around thirty or so volumes of work to her credit. Child edited Jacobs' novel and the two remained in contact for much of their lives.

"Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" was finally published by a Boston, Massachusetts publisher in 1861. It was reprinted by Mariner Books, February 28, 2010.

The remainder of Jacobs' life was spent in working to improve the lives of black refugees and freed slaves before, during and after the Civil War.

Harriet Jacobs died March 7, 1897. Her headstone reads: "Patient in tribulation, fervent in spirit serving the Lord."

Sources:

[1] The Multiracial Activist
PBS