Jacobs, Harriet
1813-1897 · Contribution: 1861
Autobiography and slave narrative; 'Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself' (1861), published under the pseudonym Linda Brent, recounted her enslavement, sexual abuse, seven years hiding in a tiny garret, and escape to freedom
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Impact on the world
The first book-length slave narrative written and published by a formerly enslaved African American woman in the U.S.; a foundational text that exposed the particular sexual exploitation of enslaved women and addressed Northern white women directly.
Life & background
African-American writer and abolitionist born a slave in Edenton, NC, in 1813. After escaping, she aided Civil War refugees and founded the Jacobs Free School in Alexandria, VA. For decades her authorship was doubted until scholar Jean Fagan Yellin verified it in the 1980s. Died March 7, 1897.
Sources
- Documenting the American South (UNC); National Humanities Center
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