Class notes
Required reading:
Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Ayers, In the Presence of Mine Enemies
Required viewing:
The Reform Impulse, Slavery, The Coming of the Civil War
Written assessment:
Quiz 3
Written assignment due:
web response paragraph
Web response prompt
Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a type of document called a "slave narrative" - a story told by ex-slaves about their life as slaves, often to advance the cause of abolishing slavery as a system.
What can we learn about slavery from her story? What generalizations can we make about slavery as a system based on Incidents?
Write a short paragraph (about 150 words) outlining ways that we can read Incidents as a historical document. Remember to use specific examples, and refer to page numbers in the text.
17 comments:
This opening chapter of Harriet Jacobs' autobiography made me speechless. I think she really succeeded to make her point and „transfer“ the pain and sorrow she felt for years to the reader. I had never before read something like this and I had no idea that lives of slaves were this hard, especially for a girl like Harriet (Linda). Colored people were treated like animals, put on auctions like horses, white people owned them and they were treated like nothing but useless objects.
I truly admire Harriet for courage she had while living with her master and mistress – Mr and Mrs Flint. She did so many things that somebody else wouldn't dare, she stood up for herself without thinking about consequences.
I was shocked when I read about buying and selling slaves on January 1st and how painful it was for mothers to say goodbye to their children. I was also touched by stories about whipping and other painful punishments. It was so cruel..
Harriet was very emotional girl and I think that passion she had led her all the way. It was not easy to oppose to her master but she did it. She hated her life so much.. She praised God for death so many times. I can't even imagine how hard it was to her and other slaves in her position. She was broken after her mother's death and also when Benjamin left, but she had strenght and didn't gave up.
I don't know how much she helped to other slaves after writing this book, but I think she definitely made a big change in their lives because there must have been somebody who heard or read her story and decided to make some moves in prevention of slavery.
What we cannot live, we cannot perceive. Slavery is a perfect example of learning from our historical mistakes and underlines the most inhumane event in American History. You may say “ignorance is bliss” but in any case, as unfortunate as slavery was, we must be informed to not make the same mistakes. This self-narrative from the collection of Harriet Jacobs was the perfect way to open the eyes of the ignorant. It shows us through actual, first person point a view, the thoughts and courage of those suffering. I believe that much is to be learned by the story of Linda Brent. As much as she suffered, she still is stronger then we can imagine, “Neither for I care to excite sympathy for my own sufferings” (Harriet Jacobs 1861, Page 375). The power, bravery, and patients it took to survive like an animal, is as inspiring as anything. In my generation we take everything for granted and leave little room for understanding, appreciation, gratitude for the gifts given to us. We must fight, as did our ancestors and Linda Brent, for the safety, tranquility, and further growth of future generations, “I do this for the sake of my sister in bondage…with the hope or arousing conscientious…that every man…swears solemnly before God… the he has the power to prevent… a fugitive… shall ever be sent back to suffer…” (Harriet Jacobs 1861, Page 376). I was absolutely captivated by what she had to say and this narrative really gave me a strong, personal standpoint on slavery.
Harriet Jacobs’s shocking story openly shows us one of the worst acts against humanity - Slavery. She intentionally writes it with a capital S to confirm its importance. As she claimed she did not want to become famous or excite sympathy of people, but to bring attention to this subject. So the people of the North and eventually the rest of the world would realize sense of the conditions of the slaves. Her work is easy to read, so it makes an impression of a novel. That is maybe why its authenticity was questioned by scholars. They stated that it must have been written by a white abolitionist, because no slave could be this skillful. What they did not know was that her first mistress taught her how to read and spell. Meaning that this is really a very interesting historical document, where we can learn a lot about times of slavery. How slaveholders ripped families apart and sold children of their slaves. In a blink of an eye they turned into animals that did not hesitate to torture slaves in the most horrible ways. Persecuted women and took advantage in no law protecting them. I found very sad that their life was so dreadful that they frequently wished death. Even for their children, so they wouldn’t have to suffer as slaves (page 410).
Harriet Jacobs' autobiography is small in terms of proportion of entire slavery history, but according to many history books about slavery, we might be able to find similar cases. It is true that slaves often had to endure long working hours, unfairness treats from their owners, and discriminations. We can see from the contents that trades of human beings were common in the southern, or slave, states. They had their own system of ranking the slave and sell or buy them, many times, by auctions. In the work place, where slaves were exploited by owners, there were often punishment, usually whipping, when owners were agitated by slaves. There were some of ways that slaves can be freed: they were either an owner of slave grants his or her freedom or slave can escape, which both were very difficult. Harriet Jacob’s autobiography contains many her insight, however, we can make some generalization from this that life of slaves was hard and including many persecutions.
I was touched by Harriet's way of writing and I still cannot believe that a slave girl like herself can write like that without ever going to school or anything... Yes she did get a general education but i can't believe it was enough. The things she writes about are very touching and stressful for the reader. I was horrified when i read the paragraphs about how mothers had to give up their children because I think that that is the worst thing that could happen to a mother, to be brutally taken away from her children.And the fact that the mother sees it as normal even if it still hurts that was just terrible, they hurt deep inside but they try to make peace with it.
The slaves in America were treated like garbage and they had no freedom of speech and was very brave of Harriet to write such a book because in her time that was a big deal and she could have been punished severally. She knew what she was getting herself into but still took a chance and that is very admirable. ;))I also admire her courage when dealing with Mr. and Mrs. Flint who treated her like an "animal" while her first owner treated her like a person and acknowledged her and her possibilities.
No one can these days imagine what it must be like being a slave. We sometimes say that we are working as a slave or we are slaves of our work. However the slavery isn’t just about hard work. According to Harriet Jacobs slavery is humiliation, it’s discrimination, it’s abusing and violent behavior, worst than anybody can even imagine. It is treating your own human kind even your own children like animals. It is highly insulting behavior of which we all, not just the Americans, but we all should be ashamed of.
I have read slave narrator stories several times before, but they always left me in shock, disgust and shame for my people. Nevertheless it is a bit ironic because if we look back to the 2Oth century we can see similar conditions as slavery for black or just ‘different colored people’. If we look back we can see racial segregation, apartheid, discrimination and these were not even a century ago. On the whole it makes me sad that even now there are people living in Africa and Asia in harsh conditions similar to slavery if not in slavery.
To sum up the work of Jacobs, it shows us the conditions of slaves in those days. We can learn about slavery and about the feelings of enslaved people. How they were treated and how lucky some of them were. On the other side how they dealt with every day and permanent cruelty. And mainly what it was like to be a slave girl with children.
Harriet Jacob’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl was the most interesting reading so far. The fact that the story is an autobiography makes it even more fascinating. Many times the people of North and even abolitionists did not know how horrible the life of a slave was.
She was lucky that her first mistress was very kind and taught her how to write and spell. But she did not free her after she died as Linda hoped. And the new master and mistress were nothing like the first one. Despite being treated like an animal or property, she stayed strong mostly with the support of her grandmother. She saw her family fell apart (her parents died, uncle ran away), suffered torture from her master. But as she points out, other slaves were suffering even more. They were constantly whipped and tortured not only in physical way. Mothers watched the slave traders taking their children away from them, only to sell them in some other town or state and were not able to purchase their freedom. Many times they prayed for death. Not only theirs but also of their children (“The baby is dead, thank God; and I hope my poor child will soon be in heaven, too.” p. 382), to protect them from living a life of slave.
In general, slaves lived a life full of suffering with a little or no chance to ever be free. They were not able to purchase themselves as they never had enough money and their masters would not let them go. In most cases, the only bright point in their future was death.
Harriet Jacobs in her book “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” is speaking through her narrator, Linda Brent, who happened to be a born-slave and suffer from enslavement throughout her life. In the beginning of the book the authors talks about the reasons that “pushed” her to tell her story. Jacobs says that she would rather “kept it private”, but she feels that making it public might help an abolition of slavery. "Reader it is not to awaken sympathy for myself that I am telling you truthfully what I suffered. I do it to kindle a flame of compassion in your hearts for my sisters who are still in bondage" (p. 375-376). With these words the author states the reason why her story is important. She argues that she is not intended to be famous or anything like this. In the book she tries to reveal all the sufferings and brutalities slaves’ experience. Right in the beginning she says how happy she was in her childhood. The point she makes is that in childhood all people are equal in a sense. “I was born a slave; but I never knew it till sex years of happy childhood had passed away” (p376). Throughout the whole book Jacobs narrates about how it is like to be different. This story brings a sentimental view on slavery issue. If the evaluation, given by abolitionists, of overall situation about slavery was put in vague phrases, the book is the actual example of what was going on. This horrible illustration of slavery life empresses much more than blurred speeches or writings about this topic. Moreover, this narrative was one of the first of its kind; it is the story from the “other side” written by an insider which makes it a precedent in antislavery movement.
My first impression on this autobiography novel about slavery was "WOW" and "I would never want to be a slave". It was easy to read and after few pages of reading the story caught my attention entirely, because I was amazed what I read. Every sentence was so real, like you were there and living it. Well I will never know how it is to be a slave, but what she wrote was painful to read, how humans treated other humans. Like classmates before me mentioned Slavery is the greatest mistake in history of humankind. I never imagined how slaves "celebrated" the new years eve. Waiting for the worse to come. Every day for them was a painful and pityful experience. Never enjoy freedom. Never even experience freedom. Loss of religion, even worse loss of anykind of belief. good example of historical document can refer to page 383 and 384, where the new years day is described.
This Harriet Jacobs’ autobiography is a shocking story of her life as a slave woman and. She masterly describes how very hard and damaging (physically and mentally) were the lives of slaves. She also describes the background, environment and the culture which determined the story of her life.
Some of the generalizations we can make about slavery from Harriet’s book are that slavery was unjustifiable and wrong system. Under which millions of people suffered and were degraded and treated like animals. We can also see how very important part family played in slaves’ lives even though family was extremely vulnerable and was often ripped apart by slaveholders.
I think it is important to consider Harriet’s situation while she was writing it to ask questions such as for whom and for which reason she wrote this book. And if we do ask those questions we will also find the answers: “I do this for the sake of my sister in bondage…I do it with the hope or arousing conscientious and reflecting women at the North…no fugitive from slavery shall ever be sent back to suffer…” (Harriet Jacobs 1861, Page 376).
By the autographical narration “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl”, Harriet Jacobs gives her readers an insight into life in slavery. Her vivid narration of her life and incidents that happened to her, I experienced the very tough life of American slaves. Besides lifetime serving their mistresses and masters by heavy work, they were also subjected to humiliation and abuse without any legal protection. Slaves had to undergo various sufferings caused by their reckless owners (Jacobs, 381-382).
Particularly Linda, the author of the paper had experienced constant abuse by her master who believed to own both her soul and presence. He forbade her to love anyone else than him, to get married and swore to keep her until the death. Coming up from the troubles that Linda had with her owners, I realized that slaves at that time were not perceived as properties rather than human beings. Slave women were often abused and raped and threatened. The degree of cruel humiliation often led to the worse thoughts of suicides or other desperate actions (Jacobs, 406).
I agree with Jacobs when she said that slave women ought not to be judged by the same standards as others, because what they have gone though cannot be compared to lives that the others had. For contemporary people, it is unimaginable to live a “life entirely unprotected by law or custom; to have the laws reduce you to the condition of a chattel, entirely subject to the will of another”(Jacobs, 405).
Harriet Jacobs and her biography Life of a Slave Girl, narrative story tells us about the way the slaves lived in 19th century in America. In the beginnings of the history, negroes from Africa were taken to young America as labor power, mostly to be slaves. The slaves were mostly in the south, where 70 % of them were working on the field, 10 % in the private housekeeping and the rest all around. Harriet Jacobs was child born in as a slave, treated as a slave, grown up as a slave and educated to be a slave. The destiny was very cruel to her and her life, but she still found the strength to move forward and become an equal personage.
In the book, Harriet explains the way of slave’s life. It is known, that a slaves were treated as a property. A person could buy a slave on the auction or on the market with horses and furniture. A slave did not have any particular human rights and was not evaluated as a person with feelings, emotions, moods and instincts. The author describes the particular details of slave life, the relationship between master and slave, the deep sorrow the slaves have been going thru, the beginnings of the communities the slaves were creating, the difference between north and south in 19th century and mostly her feelings and deep sorrow the life brought her.
As an example of non equality between a slave and a master, the heroine narrates the story of her grandmother: “ She had laid up three hundred dollars, which her mistress one day begged as a loan, promising to pay her soon. The reader probably knows that no promise of 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 earning to her mistress, she trusted solely to her honor. The honor of a slaveholder to a slave!” (Page 377). With this story she wanted to explain the cruelty and egoism the slaveholders were treating their slaves with.
It is important to know the history to predict the future. Many and many people in the 19th century in America were treated amorally and inhumanly – 40 % of the Southern population were slaves. We should give a big thanks to people, who were strong enough to deal with their life, change it and teach the next generations.
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is an autobiographical book written by a former slave Harriet Jacobs. Her powerful narrative describes in great details what it was like to be born and to live as a slave in the American south in the nineteenth century. Indeed, it was not particularly an easy fate. A life of a slave was full of humiliation, whipping, and sorrow, as well as physical, mental and sexual abuse. A slave was considered to be just and only a loyal property of his master rather than a human being. Slave’s emotions, feelings, opinions, or personal preferences seemed irrelevant to his owner and to society; slave’s fate depended merely on his master’s compassion and mercy. Any kind of disobedience or rebellion was bitterly punished either by imprisonment, flogging or even by death. However, living a hell on the earth, death was often a praised escape from a constant tyranny for many of these villains. And despite everyday hard toiling from dawn to sunset, some slaves, such as Harriet, were not willing to give up the fight! Their unfailing faith in God’s justice as well as their own personal determination did not allow them to abandon their most sacred hope – the hope to be all once set free.
In general "Jacobs tells the story ... of her escape from her owner, Dr Flint, and ...a magazine editor who with his wife helped hide from southern slaveholders and eventually purchased Jacobs and her children and gave them their freedom." (Jacobs, 372)
Cotton was the main reason why Southern States kept so many slaves and refusing giving freedom. Northern states becoming more industrialized; manufacturing, banking, trade, all shaped attitudes toward Slaver hood, while southern still remained in labor intensive agriculture, where slaves had utmost importance.
For example, Jacobs addressees Northern women, to explain "the condition
of two millions of women at the South, [who are] still in bondage and suffering" (Jacobs,375)
Reading firs chapter, I think that even in such regime, there could be some situations where both slaves and masters would be better. But this strongly depends on "master" and his characters. "They [Jacob's family] lived together in a comfortable home; and though we were all slaves, I was so fondly shielded that I never dreamed I was a piece of merchandise...no toilsome or disagreeable duties were imposed upon me. My mistress was so kind to me that I was always glad to do her bidding...while I was with her, she taught me to read and spell; and for this privilege, which so rarely falls to the lot of slave, I bless her memory" (Jacobs, 377-378)
However, these happy days do not last long. After her mistress died, she appeared under the full hardship of slavery, where “suffer” was imminent.
After I finish reading “HARRIET JACOBS” I was a bit impressed. In the past I have read about slaves slightly, but not like this. Here is described a particular slaves life and fortune. First of all I don’t never understand how people can be differentiated in to slaves and not slaves. How can they sell and behave them as an inanimate object. If I imagine that slavery life for today’s life it is something unbelievable for me. In this case Harriet is a main character. She was still a little girl when the mistress bought her. It is terrible fact that she was removed her mother in her early ages. All her relatives had the same fortune in their life. They all were slaves but not everybody in the same family. Every new year time (page383.)for 2nd January they were resold to new mistress. Slaves were also hardly punished if they didn’t obey their mistress. (page 383) They were locked in the jail. They also were said that they were nothing but a slave. So what was their life? Can we use a ward happiness about them? For sure not. They were people who had very hard life. They had to obey to their mistress’s commands. They didn’t knew what does it mean when you are free, but they were thinking about it every day, every hour and every minute, how to get freedom.
What else could describe better how cruel this period of slavery was, than the detailed version of a victim in the first person´s view, adressing it directly to the reader? The author, Harriett Jacobs, made clear that a autobiography can definitively serve as a historical document, to show how cruel this chapter of amercian history was. It is a breathtaking expierience to read Linda´s story for somebody not familiar with the common practices of this time. In order to give credit to the fact that incidents like Linda´s story should be considered as a historical document, i will narrate events in her life that were the most shocking to me.
After being exposed to constant physical pressure, Linda calls it a sad epoch in the life of a slave girl (p.392) her master even lets her stand beside him while he was enjoying his dinner with the greatest delight giving her the task to chase away flies (p.395) I cant imagine a worse humiliation and form of psycho terror. And she has to watch him with an empts stomach. Her mistress weighed every ounce of flour so there was no chance of getting extra food or stealing something (p.381).
This form of humilition in unbearable nd i can imagine that slaves have gone through worse things.
Another shocking event for me was how she described how families got seperated on the new years day. parents werent even told where their children would be brought knowing that they would never see each other again (p.383).
Those 2 events narrate better than any history book that incidents in the life of a slave evidence how horrible this time was for the slaves.
Harriet Jacobs' narrative is a striking description of the everyday life of the black slaves in the early to mid 19th century United States. It is shocking for me that in a period of history that was mere 150 years ago, people could be treated literally as objects - sold, purchased and annihilated. At some point, it may be assumed that Jacobs might be exaggerating her horrible burdens, but at the same time, if we think that the slave owners had legal right to do to their slaves whatever they wished, it is safe to think that these poor people had their personal and social lives out of their own control. Harriet Jacobs tells that she had virtually no choice in her life and everything was determined by her masters. The smallest instance of opposing the master's will could end in a disastrous way for a slave, as seen in the conversation between Mr. Flint and Jacobs' fictional character (p. 401. I also wanted to make a parallel between the passage where Jacobs describes white and black children playing together (p. 394) and Martin Luther King's famous speech of 1963, where he described his vision of white and black people living in harmony. Although, there are hundred years between these two passages and there were differences in historical issues and backgrounds, the very core of the problem and the pain of the narrator is unchanged.
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