Essay On Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Through her autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs, under the pseudonym Linda Brent, documents her story under slavery and her escape to freedom for her and her children and is addressed to the “people of the Free States” (Jacobs 3) who do not fully comprehend the evils of slavery. She makes appeals to expand their knowledge of the matter and states “only by experience can any one realize how deep, and dark, and foul is that pit of abominations” (Jacobs 3). As she recounts, Jacobs was born into slavery and after the death of her parents at a young age, and was raised by her free colored grandmother. Jacobs then spends the next twenty years under her mistress’s father, Dr.

During their time of slavery under Dr. Flint, William provided care towards Jacobs and cared for her children while they were imprisoned after her escape from the plantation. Shortly after her escape, Jacobs took refuge in the home of a kind slaveholder, who was acquainted with Aunt Martha and offered to conceal her. The kind mistress sent her cook, Betty, to care for and feed Jacobs during her stay. After some time, Jacobs relocated her hiding spot to her grandmother’s crawlspace and after seven years, Uncle William, along with his friend, Peter, executed a plan for her to escape the South. Once she arrived in the Free States, she became employed to an English woman named Mrs. Bruce, as a nurse to her baby. While employed to her, Jacobs observes that the English had “less prejudice against color than Americans entertained” (Jacobs 138). Jacobs revealed that she entered their family with “distrustful feelings I had brought with me out of slavery” (Jacobs 139), however, due to the kindness of Mrs. Bruce and the smile of her baby, she found that they “were thawing my chilled heart” (Jacobs 139). After sometime, she finally confides in Mrs. Bruce that she is a fugitive slave and finds Mrs. Bruce to be very sympathetic and helpful. After Mrs. Bruce’s death, Linda continues her association with the Bruce family and eventually becomes close with the second Mrs. Bruce after Mr. Bruce remarried. Once Jacobs learned that her mistress, Emily Dodge, daughter of Dr. Flint, and her husband are in New York, she confided in Mrs. Bruce and fled the city. Without Jacobs’ knowledge, Mrs. Bruce employs a man from New York to “enter into negotiations with Mr. Dodge” (Jacobs 163). The gentleman pays Mr. Dodge for her freedom, and thus finally gives Jacobs her freedom. Regarding the second Mrs. Bruce, she writes, “Friend! It is a common word,