August 1, 2013
I would declare this to be an essential American text. In spite of what she may have felt about her own talents as a writer, Jacobs' only work is extremely well-written, as she tells not only of her own life as a slave who escapes to (precarious) freedom in New York, but also of the atrocities of slavery that she viewed around her, that were a terrible part of her world. Someone reading this may dare to say that Jacobs was "fortunate," and even she might say such. As was pointed out to her (and as she acknowledges), her owners never beat her viciously, or forced her to do backbreaking work. She was a very light-complected house slave, as both of her parents were descendants of slaveholder fathers (but slave-mothers, and by law, they were to have the same "position"). Rarely were the children of slaveholders acknowledged by their fathers, and were treated like chattel...just like their poor mothers. Jacobs stayed close to some of her family; her grandmother lost many of her children to slavery, though she was eventually freed by a kindly white woman whom she'd befriended in their small southern community. Her grandmother's prominence gave Jacobs some safety in her situation. But that doesn't make her experience any less horrifying.
Jacobs was never raped, though her vindictive master very well could have done so...but he was held sway by some of the influence of Jacobs' grandmother. But this "Dr. Flint" harassed her terribly, threatening her and her children, and the man's wife hardly treated the poor girl much better. I should note here that the author used pseudonyms for all of the characters. She had to protect her identity, as a runaway slave, because of the Fugitive Slave Law. As a matter of fact, that's why she wrote the text. The audience for this book was white educated people in the North, urging them to fight against the passed Fugitive Slave Laws, which was passed in a number of northern states, imposing fines on citizens who attempted to aid fugitive slaves in avoiding being arrested and sent back to slavery. Jacobs, obviously, thought that this was pretty fucked up, after she'd worked so hard and sacrificed so much just to get herself and her children out of the clutches of slavery. In fact, for the rest of her life after this text was published, she was first an active abolitionist; then, after the Civil War, she fought for the rights of freed slaves.
During my semester of student teaching, I taught one section of a course on Women's Literature. One of the texts for this class was Beloved by Toni Morrison. I read it prior to the semester starting, of course, and had found it intriguing. The class of seniors unanimously hated it. Reflecting on it, I wish I'd already read Jacobs' memoirs at that point, because I feel like if I'd had them read this masterpiece before Beloved, they might have gotten it more. Maybe easing them in to some of the graphic descriptions of slavery through Jacobs' frank (but not overly grotesque) observations, would have made it more accessible for them. Maybe Jacobs' denunciations of the monstrous Fugitive Slave Law would help the students to understand what would have driven Sethe to killing one of her children.
Jacobs denounces some writers (whom I'd never heard of, but were probably prominent in her time) who praised the institution of slavery, informing them that they have not seen the whole side of it, that they have only seen what the wealthy slaveholders have wanted them to see. She describes sadistic slaveholders, and while she does have a story or two about owners of slaves who have something like a conscious (some having freed their slaves, others treating their servants so well that they never wanted to go), but she points out that these are few and far between. The story of a young slave, whom she calls Luke, disturbed me most. Jacobs does not get into graphic detail, but his sorry situation can be inferred as she alludes to his sufferings under a paralyzed, bitter young master. It was a relief to read that Luke eventually took his own freedom, as their friendly reunion on the streets of New York is briefly described.
She includes other stories of how slaves are sold like chattel, separated from their children and families forever (her own grandmother, who'd had many children, died with only one son by her side). She describes how girls are sexually abused, and how the masters deny their own children and sell them away for profit. I mean, slavery really was a disgusting, shameful institution. There really aren't many firsthand written accounts out there of the experience of slaves; the few (like this one, or Frederick Douglas's work) were written by those who were in circumstances that allowed them to get some semblance of an education (though the fortunate situations would never last). It's important that Jacobs included accounts other than her own, though her own personal story is harrowing enough.
Jacobs had two children by a white slaveholder, not her own master. She was ashamed of herself, and wrote of this shame in her memoirs, but she felt at the time that at least she'd made a choice in being with him, which was more than she could have said if she'd been with "Dr. Flint." But even this man, "Mr. Sands," who seemed at first to be a kind man, was not entirely trustworthy. However, he did help to secure the freedom of his two children by her, though he did not love her; in the end, they were free (their papers being in their grandmother's name by law), but they were cared for only by their mother and her family. Jacobs, after running away from the "Flints," stayed hidden in the attic of her grandmother's storeroom for seven years. SEVEN YEARS. Geez, and it was a tiny, cramped space, and she was exposed to the elements. Her joints suffered permanent damage from being cramped so much (she infrequently got exercise), but she withstood it, all for a chance at freedom. The Flints continued to pursue her, but even when she got away, she continued to outsmart them. However, her position was still precarious at the end of the book...hence, why she was called "Linda" throughout, and why the text was published under the name "Linda Brent" in its time.
I am very glad that I read this book, and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. As I read the section on the way that teenage girls in slavery were treated by masters and oversees, I couldn't help but think of the continued presence of human trafficking in our world today. Slavery is still a reality; I read somewhere that there are more slaves in the world TODAY then there have EVER been. Surely there are many more people than there have been in history. But Jacobs observes, with scorn, that in her time, when civilization was supposedly, well, "civilized," that slavery and such cruelties like the Fugitive Slave Law could still exist. TODAY, when the world is becoming more connected through technology, slavery is still so much a reality. I know a couple of texts that address just this sort of issue, and I feel like I need to add those to my reading list. Slavery of the past should not be forgotten, and Jacobs' work is an essential part of keeping that knowledge alive, of acknowledging that terrible time in our history. We also need to realize that slavery is not just a part of the past...if we are so disturbed by Jacobs' accounts of the atrocities of slavery in her time, she would probably want us to consider what we must do to put a stop to it now.
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What might be one of the only images of Harriet Ann Jacobs. She was definitely very light-complected, but that did not make her immune to racism after she found her "freedom" in the northern states.
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