African American History
Garret Hawthorne
HIS 14 FALL 2012
Essay Assignment
Due: November 29, 2012
An analysis of the book Harriet Jacobs autobiography Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl reveals, in my opinion, that it is an accurate representation of the antebellum South under a slave system based on other published works such as Soujourner Truth, Address to the Womens’ Right’s Convention Akron, Ohio 1851 and Benjamin Drew, Narratives of Escaped Slaves 1855. The accounts described by Harriet Jacobs are consistent with these and many other
In my assessment for veracity within “ Incidents In The Life of A Slave Girl”
I find a resounding voice throughout the slave, Free Black and the Abolitionist communities.
As Harriet Jacobs speaks of the brutal rapes she endured; time after time. As she expresses
Her desire to confide in her Grandmother about disrespect and worthlessness the slave master
Infringes upon her, but for fear of retribution ;of who knows to what degree, Harriet dare not speak a word of those feelings to her Grandmother or anyone else for that matter. In correlation with my belief of Harriet’s story, we have other documents to support the pulse of the African who is not yet considered a human being at the time. Sorjourner Truth….
“that man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm. I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man—when I could get it—and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen them most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?
{Address to the women’s rights convention, Akron, Ohio 1851} SOURCE:
HIS 14 FALL 2012
Essay Assignment
Due: November 29, 2012
An analysis of the book Harriet Jacobs autobiography Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl reveals, in my opinion, that it is an accurate representation of the antebellum South under a slave system based on other published works such as Soujourner Truth, Address to the Womens’ Right’s Convention Akron, Ohio 1851 and Benjamin Drew, Narratives of Escaped Slaves 1855. The accounts described by Harriet Jacobs are consistent with these and many other
In my assessment for veracity within “ Incidents In The Life of A Slave Girl”
I find a resounding voice throughout the slave, Free Black and the Abolitionist communities.
As Harriet Jacobs speaks of the brutal rapes she endured; time after time. As she expresses
Her desire to confide in her Grandmother about disrespect and worthlessness the slave master
Infringes upon her, but for fear of retribution ;of who knows to what degree, Harriet dare not speak a word of those feelings to her Grandmother or anyone else for that matter. In correlation with my belief of Harriet’s story, we have other documents to support the pulse of the African who is not yet considered a human being at the time. Sorjourner Truth….
“that man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm. I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man—when I could get it—and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen them most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?
{Address to the women’s rights convention, Akron, Ohio 1851} SOURCE:
Cited: Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl, Jacobs, Harriet. Dover, 2001 unabridged. Benjamin Drew, Narratives of Escaped Slaves (1855) | Benjamin Drew was a Boston abolitionist who interviewed scores of ex-slaves who had escaped into Canada. These interviews were compiled and published as "The Refugee; Narratives of Fugitive Slaves in Canada Related by Themselves." Along with hundreds of other narratives, these testimonies form a dramatic answer to the southern position that slaves were well treated and much happier than northern laborers. These narratives were powerful tools for abolitionists who used them to stir a northern population often content to accept a positive view of slavery. | Sojourner Truth, Address to the Woman 's Rights Convention, Akron, Ohio (1851) | | |