Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Written by Harriet Ann Jacobs, using the pen name ＂Linda Brent,＂ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is an in-depth chronological account of Jacobs’s life as a slave, and the decisions and choices she made to gain freedom for herself and her children. It addresses the struggles and sexual abuse that young women slaves faced on the plantations, and how these struggles were harsher than what men suffered as slaves.

Harriet Ann Jacobs (1813-1897) was born in Edenton, North Carolina to Daniel Jacobs and Delilah, who were both slaves. Harriet inherited the status of both her parents as a slave by birth and was raised by Delilah until she died around 1819. She then was raised by her mother’s mistress, Margaret Horniblow, who taught her how to sew, read, and write. After Margaret died, Harriet eventually escaped and took up residence in Rochester, New York, where much abolitionist work took place, and wrote Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.