Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

"One of the major autobiographies of the African-American tradition."-Henry Louis Gates, Jr. The true story of an individual's struggle for self-identity, self-preservation, and freedom, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl remains among the few slave narratives written by a woman. This autobiographical account chronicles the remarkable odyssey of Harriet Ann Jacobs (1813-1897) whose fearless spirit and faith carried her from a life of servitude and degradation in North Carolina to freedom and reunion with her children in the North. In great and painful detail, Jacobs describes her life as a Southern slave, the exploitation that haunted her daily life, her abuse by her master, the involvement she sought with another white man in order to escape her master, and her determination to win freedom for herself and her children. From her seven years of hiding in a garret that was three feet high, to her escape north to a reunion with her children and freedom, this is a rare firsthand account of a courageous woman's resolve and endurance. A valuable historical record of the continuing battle for freedom and the protection of family.