Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself

by Harriet Jacobs

43 chapters7h 46mEnglish1861

About this book

Harriet Jacobs' autobiography, written under the pseudonym Linda Brent, details her experiences as a slave in North Carolina, her escape to freedom in the north, and her ensuing struggles to free her children. The narrative was partly serialized in the New York Tribune, but was discontinued because Jacobs' depictions of the sexual abuse of female slaves were considered too shocking. It was published in book form in 1861. (Summary by Elizabeth Klett).

1Childhood

532

2The New Master and Mistress

799

3The Slaves’ New Year’s Day

288

4The Slave Who Dared to Feel Like a Man

1450

5The Trials of Girlhood

509

6The Jealous Mistress

870

7The Lover

906

8What Slaves Are Taught to Think of the North

348

9Sketches of Neighboring Slaveholders

1072

10A Perilous Passage in the Slave Girl’s Life

788

11A New Tie to Life

689

12Fear of Insurrection

704

13The Church and Slavery

1110

14Another Link to Life

480

15Continued Persecutions

848

16Scenes at the Plantation

1300

17The Flight

432

18Months of Peril

982

19The Children Sold

687

20New Perils

564

21The Loophole of Retreat

586

22Christmas Festivities

316

23Still in Prison

564

24The Candidate for Congress

384

25Competition in Cunning

682

26Important Era in my Brother’s Life

582

27New Destination for the Children

938

28Aunt Nancy

702

29Preparations for Escape

1152

30Northward Bound

432

31Incidents in Philadelphia

623

32The Meeting of Mother and Daughter

482

33A Home Found

388

34The Old Enemy Again

506

35Prejudice Against Color

341

36The Hairsbreadth Escape

661

37A Visit to England

379

38Renewed Invitations to Go South

286

39The Confession

271

40The Fugitive Slave Law

726

41Free At Last

960

42Appendix

310

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself

About this book

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