Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl; a Literary Weapon Against Slavery

Abstract

Harriet Ann Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl seemed not to be the only literary work which tackled the issue of woman in slavery. However, this autobiography is the first published slave narrative written in the nineteenth century. In fact, the primary purpose of this research is to dive into Incidents in order to examine the author’s portrayal of a black female slave fighting for her freedom and her rights. On the other hand, Jacobs shows that despite the oppression and the persecution of an enslaved woman, she did not remain silent, but she strived to assert herself. Two chapters are included within this research; the first one is theoretical vision on slavery in America, the attempts of slaves to assert themselves politically through literature, the role of women in the antebellum era, and the strength of slave narratives in abolishing slavery. As for the second chapter, it contains an examination of the major aspects of slavery within the main incidents written in the narrative of Harriet Jacobs, to better grasp the meaning of a female life under oppression, racism, sexual abuse that were experienced at the hands of white masters. In this research, Harriet A. Jacobs is considered as the spokesperson of black and white women in the Antebellum America who fought against slavery and sought to assert herself and all slaves as well.