Town Hall Meeting - Life of Harriet Jacobs

 TOWN HALL MEETING - HARRIET JACOBS

        My name is Harriet Jacobs. I am a former slave, an American abolitionist, and an autobiographer. Today, I'd like to share some insight into my life. I was born into slavery in Edenton, North Carolina in the fall of 1813. Although enslaved, I did not know that my family and I were truly slaves, nor did I understand what it meant to be a slave until raw age of six. I lived with my brother and father, and was very close to my grandmother. My mistress and master treated my family with care, teaching me how to read and write. My childhood was a peaceful one for quite some time, but everything changed when those I loved began to pass away. One vivid memory that stands out in my memory is missing my father's funeral because I was given the last of picking flowers for my new mistress' house part. This is when I began to grasp the harsh realities of slavery.  

               The trials of girlhood were difficult and challenging. My new Master, Dr. Flint began to sexually assault me during my adolescent years. There was a distinct time of which I rebelled against Dr. Flint by sleeping with Mr. Sands, a young white lawyer. I birthed two children with Mr. Sands and felt ashamed. My grandmother raised me up with christian values, and having children out of wedlock was to be a sin. In the year 1842, I decided to ultimately run away and hide from the Flint Family. I accomplished this by boarding a ship with a good friend of mine, Fanny. Eventually I had to move due to the search Mr. Flint sent out to find me. I ended up hiding in my grandmother's friend's attic, and there I remained for the next seven years.

            When I emerged from that attic, I stepped into adulthood. I fled to Philadelphia, and later traveled to New York in search of my daughter, Ellen. While there, I became a nursemaid for a women named Mary State Willis, wife to editor and writer Nathaniel Parker Willis. She treated me with great kindness, providing me with a place to stay and hiring a physician to take care of me, After spending seven years confined in an attic, my body, particularly my legs, suffered from various medical issues. In 1852, I was gifted my freedom by my employer's new wife, Cornelia Grinnel Willis. 

            Before writing my autobiography Incident in the Life of a Slave Girl, I anonymously sent letters to the New York Tribune, where I first began to discuss the sexual abuse I suffered during my enslavement. A while later, I officially began to write my book under the alias Linda Brent, focusing on themes of family, religion, gender, and most importantly, the sexual violence inflicted on black women. 

In time, I became the first enslaved fugitive woman to author a narrative. I wrote my book in hopes that it would shed light on the maltreatment that slaves, particularly enslaved women, endured on plantations. Though the North has its own shortcomings of segregation and such matters, the perversion and mishandling of slaves in the South is far worse. While my autobiography was "Praised by the antislavery press in the United States and Great Britain, Incidents was quickly overshadowed by the gathering clouds of civil war in America." Regardless of the facts I believe that whether it is now in my lifetime or far after, my book will have a lasting impact on the audience who chooses to read it.