Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

"I have not exaggerated the wrongs inflicted by slavery....Only by experience can anyone realize how deep, and dark and foul is that pit of abominations." Harriet Jacobs

This book was published in 1861 and written under the pseudonym Linda Brent. Many years later, it was reveled that Brent was a slave named Harriet Jacobs. She was born in slave North Carolina and she learned to read and write when she was young. At about the age of 11 she was sent to live as a slave to a doctor "Dr. Flint". Flint subjected her to repeated sexual advances and when the advances got worse, she tried to escape to the North.

The book tells about how she repeatedly ran away to try to gain freedom from her captors. She even hid in a relative’s attic for 7 years waiting for the right time to escape. She watched her children grow over the years through cracks in the attic walls. She never told her childern where she was because she was afraid they might be pressured to tell. She survived the cold winters and the hot summers living in a small crawl space where there was not enough room to stand or even stretch out completely.

I cried several times reading this book. I just couldn’t put it down after I started reading. I think I was up until 3 a.m., eyes barely open, but I had to finish!

I found mine at Half Price Books but, I am sure it can be found at your local library or Amazon.