Author:Harriet Jacobs / Year: 1813-1897 / Genre: Autobiography Born in slavery, but being fortunate enough to be owned by a benevolent mistress, her life takes a tragic turn
when her parents and her benefactor die. The new heir to the property (and slaves) is a cruel and lewd man
who begins to make inappropriate advances to the lovely young slave-girl. In a bid to escape, she becomes
entangled in a relationship with a neighboring landowner who promises a better life, and she even has two
children. However, things become worse for her when her cruel owner decides to punish her by sending her
and her children to a distant cotton plantation to be “broken in.” She plans a devious method of escape and
ends up spending seven terrible years locked up in a tiny cramped garret. Relentlessly pursued by her wicked
owner, she lives in fear and desperation.
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Written by Herself is one of the many slave narratives that emerged out of
the terrible and inhuman atrocities committed in the nineteenth century by white Americans. Modern-day
readers would find it difficult to believe that such practices existed in the “Land of the Free.” Assisted by
abominable laws like the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 endorsed by Congress, slave-owners were allowed
to pursue their “property” across the length and breadth of the country.