Life of a slave girl by Harriet Jacobs
Harriet Jacobs whose pen name was Linda Brent, was born into slavery. In her experience as a slave she encountered many problems with race and with gender. Harriet Jacobs was a slave who had a happy childhood. As a child her mother taught her many traits that would later prove to be useful. Her mother taught her to never give up without a fight. Jacobs was six years old when her mother died, but it wasn't until the death of her kind mistress that Jacobs began to feel the real sting of slavery. In the house of her mother's mistress she was taught to read and write. When the mistress died Jacobs was willed to a three year old niece, where Jacobs endured cruelty from the Mrs. Flint and sexual harassment from Dr. Flint. Around the time Harriet turned 15, Mr. Flint began his relentless efforts to bend the slave girl's will. At first he whispered "foul words" in her ear. As time went on his tactics became more overt. Still Harriet refused to give in. To get Harriet away from his wife, who was suspicious of her husband's intentions, he built a cottage for the girl slave four miles from town. Harriet had previously asked Mr. Flint for permission to marry a free black man, and Mr. Flint had violently refused. Determined to
Brent's gender experience in slavery was totally different from that of freedom. In the eyes of the white people saw slavery as an everyday thing so the importance wasn't at all that big a deal. To see people raped, children stolen, and to see people severely abused. Even in freedom though she still had somewhat of a tough time because she was an African American woman. As they grow older, they find out slowly and figure out that they are property. When examining other historical documents of this time they seem to repeat themselves, but this is one of the few documents where the kind and respectful side of slavery is revealed. Also, when examining the races of people, we see that there are a lot of "mulatto" people which are a mixture of white and black. Its sloping ceiling, only three feet high at one end, didn't allow her to turn while laying down without hitting her shoulder. Finally, Jacobs is aided in escape to the north. In 1842, Harriet made her escape to freedom. Friends later convinced her to write an account of her life as a slave. But her children had been bought by the lawyer and were now living in the same house. So are stories believable, yes there are facts still around today to prove it. In the book she talks about her child hood and how good her mothers' mistress was to her, and how when her mother died that she would not let any harm comes to them.
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Acceptance Essays
