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

by Jacobs, Harriet A.; Jacobs, John S.; Yellin, Jean Fagan; Yellin, Jean Fagan

• ISBN13: 9780674002715
• ISBN10: 0674002717
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-05-19
• Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr

Summary

This enlarged edition of the most significant and celebrated slave narrative now completes the Jacobs family saga, surely one of the most memorable in all of American history. John Jacobs's short slave narrative, A True Tale of Slavery, published in London in 1861, adds a brother's perspective to Harriet Jacobs's own autobiography. It is an exciting addition to this now classic work, as John Jacobs presents additional historical information about family life so well described already by his sister. Importantly, it presents the people, places, and events Harriet Jacobs wrote about from the different perspective of a male narrator. Once more, Jean Yellin, who discovered this long-lost document, supplies annotation and authentication. She has also brought her Introduction up to date.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	xiii
Introduction	xv
Jean Fagan Yellin
Cast of Characters	xliv
INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF A SLAVE GIRL
Preface by the Author	1	(2)
Introduction by the Editor	3	(2)
Childhood	5	(4)
The New Master and Mistress	9	(6)
The Slaves' New Year's Day	15	(2)
The Slave Who Dared to Feel Like a Man	17	(10)
The Trials of Girlhood	27	(4)
The Jealous Mistress	31	(6)
The Lover	37	(6)
What Slaves Are Taught to Think of the North	43	(3)
Sketches of Neighboring Slaveholders	46	(7)
A Perilous Passage in the Slave Girl's Life	53	(5)
The New Tie to Life	58	(5)
Fear of Insurrection	63	(5)
The Church and Slavery	68	(8)
Another Link to Life	76	(4)
Continued Persecutions	80	(6)
Scenes at the Plantation	86	(9)
The Flight	95	(3)
Months of Peril	98	(7)
The Children Sold	105	(5)
New Perils	110	(4)
The Loophole of Retreat	114	(4)
Christmas Festivities	118	(3)
Still in Prison	121	(4)
The Candidate for Congress	125	(3)
Competition in Cunning	128	(5)
Important Era in My Brother's Life	133	(4)
New Destination for the Children	137	(6)
Aunt Nancy	143	(5)
Preparations for Escape	148	(8)
Northward Bound	156	(3)
Incidents in Philadelphia	159	(5)
The Meeting of Mother and Daughter	164	(4)
A Home Found	168	(3)
The Old Enemy Again	171	(4)
Prejudice against Color	175	(3)
The Hairbreadth Escape	178	(5)
A Visit to England	183	(3)
Renewed Invitations to Go South	186	(2)
The Confession	188	(2)
The Fugitive Slave Law	190	(5)
Free at Last	195	(12)
Appendix	203	(4)
A TRUE TALE OF SLAVERY
Some Account of My Early Life	207	(2)
A Further Account of My Family	209	(3)
My Uncle's Troubles	212	(3)
My New Master's Plantation	215	(3)
My Master Goes to Washington	218	(2)
Sensations of Freedom	220	(3)
Cruel Treatment of Slaves	223	(6)
Illustrations	229	(15)
Abbreviations	244	(1)
Chronology	245	(4)
Correspondence	249	(26)
Notes	275	(48)
Acknowledgments	323	(2)
Index	325