Product Description

In one of the most significant slave narratives ever written, Harriet Jacobs, born a slave to mulatto parents in 1813 North Carolina, recounts her remarkable story. From her sale to an abusive master, to her bid for freedom as the lover of a white man, to her ultimate and harrowing emancipation, this work is an outstanding example of a woman's extraordinary courage--and one of the most provocative first-person accounts of slavery in American history.

Afterword by Myrlie Evers-Williams

"One of the major autobiographies of the Afro-American tradition."-- Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1006569 in Books
• Published on: 2000-01-13
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 256 pages

From Library Journal
Published in 1861, this was one of the first personal narratives by a slave and one of the few written by a woman. Jacobs (1813-97) was a slave in North Carolina and suffered terribly, along with her family, at the hands of a ruthless owner. She made several failed attempts to escape before successfully making her way North, though it took years of hiding and slow progress. Eventually, she was reunited with her children. For all biography and history collections.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. One of the major autobiographies of the African American tradition.

Louise Meriwether Harriet Jacobs in her narrative reveals how she refused to be victimized within her own mind, but rather chose to act instead from a steadfast conviction of her own worth....Hers is an example worth emulating even in these modern times.

Ingram
One of the few existing slave narratives authored by a woman, this work offers a unique perspective on the complex plight of a black woman as slave and writer. In a story that emerges the conventions of the slave narrative with the techniques of the sentimental novel, Jacobs describes her ultimately successful struggle for freedom. 2 cassettes