Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl, Written by Herself: With Related Documents (The Bedford Series in History and Culture)

Much of what is known about the experience of slavery comes from first-person accounts written by formerly enslaved men. In this volume, Jennifer Fleischner examines the first- and best-known female account of life under, and escape from, slavery Harriet Jacobs autobiography. In her introduction, Fleischner shows how Jacobs used the written word to liberate herself and promote the end of slavery by carefully discussing her sexual exploitation as a slave in ways that would inspire sympathy in and not offend her Victorian white, middle-class, female audience. The rich collection of related documents that accompany Jacobs complete narrative including a selection of Jacobs letters and her brothers account of some of the same incidents Jacobs describes illuminate Jacobs life, her thoughts about writing, and her relationships with white women abolitionists. Document headnotes, a chronology, questions for consideration, a selected bibliography, and a chart of the pseudonyms Jacobs used for her real-life characters further enrich this important contribution to the history of slavery in America.