Harriet Jacobs Freedom Movement

By the eighteenth century in the United States, slavery was a well-established institution that was characterized by a heavily unequal power balance between masters and the enslaved. The system of slavery itself ran contradictory to the New Republic’s ideals of a government who sought to protect the “life, liberty, and property” of its citizens, but to those who were bound to slavery through capture or inheritance, enslavement was the ultimate denial of these basic human rights and whose existence was devalued to that of property. In this institution, the unquestionable power wielded by slave owners bred a culture of cruelty and abuse. Physical and psychological violence were tools employed to counteract resistance from the enslaved. At the

It is through her lived experience that we can better understand the varying types of coercion used by slave masters to influence sexual interactions as well as the recourse taken when their attempts were unsuccessful. Harriet Jacobs was born into slavery in 1813. Both of her parents, Elijah Knox and Delilah Horniblow, were enslaved as well. By the age of twelve, she was under the charge of James and Mary Norcum, but it was not until Harriet was sixteen that James began his sexual pursuit of her. Initially, Harriet was able to avoid these blatant sexual advances by ensuring they remained in the presence of other people, but "James structured Harriet's work so that she would be alone with him" (Block, 181). She was ordered to bring him meals, to come to his office to run errands, and in a final desperate attempt, "James ordered his four-year-old daughter to sleep near him, thus requiring that Harriet also sleep in his room [...]" (Block, 181). By controlling Harriet’s “routine, her work requirements, and her physical presence”, James had the ability to define the terms of their interactions (Block, 108). When James’ overtures had begun to draw notice from his wife, he had to “reconfigure his behavior” and “[reverted] to physical gestures instead of words to convey his sexual desire” (Block, 182). When that method did not elicit a favorable response to James, he began writing notes to her, but Harriet “used her own

Sally, a young slave girl, was only fourteen at the time of her remarkable journey from Virginia to Paris, France. She had accompanied Thomas Jefferson’s youngest daughter Polly on the journey and was assigned to work with her brother James in the Jefferson’s temporary Parisian home. Evidence points that at some time in that brief, two-year stint in Paris, Sally had become the concubine of Thomas Jefferson. While there is no solid evidence like personal journal entries, court proceedings, or slavery documentation directly proving that they were romantically involved, what data we do have are subtle clues in their intertwining time lines that we can only interpret. By taking on the assumption that their concubinage was real, which would not be far-fetched considering the anti-miscegenation laws of the time and the proclivity of white slave owners taking on sexual interactions with their slaves, the biggest clue might lie in the agreement of Sally Hemings to return to an antebellum Virginia where she would remain enslaved. “Being under French law gave [her] the opportunity to claim free status” and presented “an extraordinary moment of leverage” (Gordon-Reed, 98). Ultimately, her decision was to stay by Jefferson’s side whether for some level of commitment and affection or for the “elemental desire”, “the human desire for a secure family life” (Gordon-Reed, 100).

In final, despite the violence, hardship, and oppression