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Summary: A priceless legacy...
Review: Born in 1813, "Linda Brent" (as Harriet Jacobs renames herself) lived to play the role of nurse - as a free woman - during the Civil War. The long journey that took her there began on the day she realized, as a six-year-old who had just become motherless, that she was a slave.The first mistress she served treated little Linda kindly. When the girl was 12 years old, and her mistress died, Linda and her family hoped the will might leave her free. Instead, it bequeathed her to the dead mistress's 5-year-old niece. This placed Linda under the control of Dr. Flint, her new little mistress's father, and his selfish, cruel wife. The slaves of the Flint household were always hungry, often beaten; and, if female and attractive, quite likely to bear Dr. Flint's offspring. Linda Brent refused to submit to her master's advances. Instead she bore two children to another white man, in hopes her lover might buy and free her - which couldn't happen unless Dr. Flint, on behalf of his daughter, proved willing to sell. But Dr. Flint was anything else but willing to part with his uncooperative property. So began a long battle of wits and wills, one that for Linda had the highest stakes imaginable. This well documented true story of a woman's life as property had trouble finding a publisher in its own era. Even today it's not easy reading. Unflinchingly honest even when she's recounting her own errors and weaknesses, Harriet Jacobs leaves the world a priceless legacy in these memoirs of her battle for freedom. --Reviewed by Nina M. Osier, author of ROUGH RIDER
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Summary: A Woman's Life in Slavery
Review: Harriet Jacobs' (1813-1897) "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" is one of the few accounts of Southern slavery written by a woman. The book was published in 1861 through the efforts of Maria Child, an abolitionist who edited the book and wrote an introduction to it. The book had its origin in a series of letters Jacobs wrote between 1853 and 1861 to her friends in the abolitionist movement, notably a woman named Amy Post. Historically, there was some doubt about the authorship of the book and about the authenticity of the incidents it records. These doubts have largely been put to rest by the discovery of the letters. The book indeed has elements of a disguise and of a novel. Jacobs never uses her real name but calls herself instead "Linda Brent." The other characters in the book are also given pseudonyms. Jacobs tells us in the Preface to the book (signed "Linda Brent") that she changed names in order to protect the privacy of indiduals but that the incidents recounted in the narrative are "no fiction". Jacobs was born in slave rural North Carolina. As a young girl, she learned to read and write, which was highly rare among slaves. At about the age of 11 she was sent to live as a slave to a doctor who also owned a plantation, called "Dr. Flint" in the book. Jacobs book describes well the cruelties of the "Peculiar Institution -- in terms of its beatings, floggings, and burnings, overwork, starvation, and dehumanization. It focuses as well upon the selling and wrenching apart of families that resulted from the commodification of people in the slave system. But Jacobs' book is unique in that it describes first-hand the sexual indignities to which women were subjected in slavery. (Other accounts, such as those of Frederick Douglass, were written by men.) The book is also unusual in that Jacobs does not portray herself entirely as a hero but describes the nature of the steps she took to avoid becoming the sexual slave of Flint. Thus, when Flint subjected her to repeated sexual advances from the time Jacobs reached the age of 16, she tried to avoid him by beginning an affair with a white, single attorney with whom she had two children. When Flint's advances persisted, Jacobs formed the determination to try to secure her freedom. The bulk of the book describes how Jacobs hid precariously in a cramped attic for seven years waiting for the opporunity to secure her freedom. There are also accounts of her prior attempts to leave slavery, including a particularly harrowing account of several days in a place aptly named "Snaky Swamp." Jacobs describes her relationship with her grandmother, a free black woman who was probably the major inspiration of her life. She also describes well her love and concern for her children, conceived through the liasion with the white attorney. This book offers a rare perspective on American slavery as it affected women. It is also a testament, I think, to the value of literacy and knowledge as an instrument for winning and preserving free human life. Although this story is not pretty, it is a testament to human persistence in the face of adversity and to the precious character of human freedom.
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Summary: So many things said already...
Review: I have read a lot of the past reviews and I consider this story as part of the American narrative that can't be dismissed. Yes, it sounds unbelivable when we look at the lives that we lead today but this was reality to so many people in the past. It takes the life of a black woman living in slavery and presents in interesting story that reads a lot like fiction. It is so easy to foget that it was real. Traditionaly women have been left out of history, especially black women, slave women... This is an unseen element of history that has to start being seen. I don't think that I could recomend a better book to read.
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Summary: A very poweful tale of the great injustice put on slaves.
Review: I have read Incidents in the Life of a Slave by Harriet Jacobs, twice! I enjoyed reading her book. Her book is full of rich vocabulary. Her writing skills and the description of events she used was impressive, i.e. the separation of mother and child being sold to slaveholders, I felt the pain. In her writings, she constantly humbled herself because of her circumstances of being a slave and how she felt incompetent to write her life story. I must say that Jacobs did a magnificent job, considering her life of chattel slavery. Besides being courageous, strong and enduring, she was a very wise person. I think Jacob's does not give herself credit for being wise. She was very wise because she had to plan various strategies to outwit her devil master's attempts to capture her. She was wise in not trusting Harriet Beecher Stowe. What was Stowe's purpose of forwarding Jacob's writings to Mrs. Willis, which included her sexual history? Jacobs was no fool. Finally, the most indelible impression on my mind was when she hid in her grandmother's house, above the storage room, for seven years! I was right there with her. Great job Harriet Jacobs!!
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Summary: For a true account of slave life, look no futher!
Review: I just finished reading this book the other day and I really enjoyed reading it. It's basically an autobiography of the author under the name Linda Brent (obviously she doesn't want to use the real names of other characters, and she changes her own name in the book in accordance), who was a slave until I believe her late 20s (maybe early 30s if I'm not mistaken). First published in 1861 it really has a charming 19th century writing style to it that's more simplistic than most things you find from this time period.
This book really makes you realize how extreme the struggle of a slave woman is and makes you appreciate them more for it. She doesn't dwell too much on any topic and keeps an even progression throughout the whole story. Most important though, she makes you care about who she cares about and despise the people she dislikes. It's a very emotional book and quite a harrowing tale.
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Summary: A wonderful book
Review: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Linda Brent is a deeply touching narrative of a slave woman's journey through the heinous institution of slavery to her eventual emancipation. Through her description of bonded labor, the reader very poignantly realizes what it was like for millions of African Americans to be brutalized and ravaged by slavery. Written in 1861 to educate the Northerners, especially the women, about the evils of slavery, the autobiography is a harrowing account of a woman's life, what the author ironically calls her `adventures'. The abuse that the palpably intelligent and veracious author had to undergo has the power to humble every one of us even today.
Linda Brent was born as a slave in the household of a miraculously benevolent mistress. She lost her mother at the age of six, but her mistress, who was her mother's half-sister, took good care of her and endowed on her ward the gift of literacy. The degradative reality of slavery was hidden from the author till she entered her early teens, when within a year both her mistress and her father passed away, and she was acquired by the household of Dr. Flint. At his plantation, the author had to bear the full force of slavery. From this time to the author's eventual freedom, the reader gets a glimpse of the persecution that a slave had to face.
As mentioned above, the book was written to illustrate the depravity of slavery to people living in the North. It is striking to see how humbly, or even apologetically, the author has used her life to explain the circumstances of slavery. She has used fictitious names and concealed the names of places so as not to offend any person, black or white. As one reads the book, the author can definitely be identified as a pious and truthful person, and becomes easy to see why the author places so much emphasis on her secrecy. The book is not written to garner sympathy from readers, but to shock readers into the realities of slavery. It was an appeal to the people who the author thought had the power to defeat slavery to act on it.
The author's main argument is that slavery is not just about perpetual bondage, but it involves the absolute debasement of a people. She painfully acknowledges that the `black man is inferior', but vociferously argues that it is a result of slavery, which stymies the intellectual capacity of her race. She believes that `white men compel' the black race to be ignorant. Although she was wronged by many Southern white men, she does not blame the white race for her ills. She believes that the institution of slavery has ample negative impact on the household and psyche of a white family as well, and that white males are coerced into being brutal. She rebukes `the Free States' in her own pacific way for condoning slavery in the South. Her stand is that a life of manumit destitution is radically more acceptable than bondage, and that is the general idea that the author wants the readers to remember.
The book is sequenced more or less in a chronological order. The author's astoundingly comfortable childhood is shattered by the nefarious demands of being a pubescent female slave. She explains how even the body of a slave is not her own, and is considered to be a property of the slaveholder, that can violated or abused according to his wishes. Her analogy to being traded or shot like pigs demonstrates the extent of shame that a slave had to bear with. Her infatuation and blind faith in the goodness of a white man make her the mother of two children, and her determination to keep them away from the evils of slavery becomes her primary goal. In her attempts to flee from slavery, she has to hide in a den above her grandmother's house for seven years. The anguish of a mother who can see her children but not be able to communicate with them is heart wrenching. The story of her escape to the North is also incredible. Even after reaching the north, she had to resist prejudice and fear for a long time before she and her children eventually became free.
By reading the book, the reader can definitely get to experience the life of a slave. Perhaps the shocking brutality of the truth is shielded in the book by the author's conscious effort to not be a cause of affront. She wrote this book because she had a message to give to the readers, but was held back in a way by her goodness. On the other hand, reading a book written in a simple way, as though the author was narrating her story in front of the reader, goes on to validate her tragedy. It is explained in a more personal way than a historian would explain it, and the harsh emotions experienced by the author break through, even though she tries to suppress her sadness. The author's argument that slavery is humiliating is proved by the fact that the author does not explain exactly how she was mentally and physically abused. She only points out that she had to bear physical and mental decadence, but does elaborate on the techniques of the likes of Dr. Flint.
It has to be remembered that this book was not written to be a historical text. It is about a woman's personal fight with slavery. It cannot be argued that her emotions were wrong or that her views about slavery can be challenged in any way. Readers who have not experienced slavery are not in a position to do so. This book definitely manages to do what it was intended to do, and that is to make the reader aware that slavery was a harrowing experience for the African Americans. As a book of past injustices and future hopes, it is a must read.
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Summary: This Story Must Be Told Often!
Review: Incidents in the Life Of A Slave Girl is a harrowing, personal experience of a AA female born and raised during the tumultuous, infamous and tragic era of slavery in America's history. Harriett Jacobs, aka Linda Brent, tells in her own voice-one that is explicit and easy to understand-the story of a young woman born into the brutal, horrendous slavery era who later escapes to freedom in the North. Incidents is emotional and the feelings are raw as you experience the tale of a slave who desired freedom so badly that she hid for SEVEN YEARS in a narrow, cramped quarter without much freedom of movement. The story is riveting and moving and shows what an individual is able to accomplish in spite of sex, race and slavery. Incidents is a story of bravery in light of insurmountable circumstances and ones belief that they can succeed in spite of unmeasurable difficulties. Incidents is an excellent reading selection for a bookgroup and a book that I highly recommend to everyone. Remember the story and share the story so that history doesn't repeat itself.
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Summary: Component forces of the Civil War Revolution
Review: Incidents is typically viewed as an outstanding example of Black feminist resistance to slavery as well as a protest against the fugitive slave laws. Yet, it can also be seen as an assessment of the forces available to eliminate slavery as a whole, part of a debate that unfolded in the years leading up to the civil war about what force could possibly overthrow slavery whose ascendancy not only over the South, but over the entire nation seemed unstoppable when this book was written.
Its history is a testament to the growth of racism among American literary "experts" and historians. While Harriet Jacobs was celebrated in her time as the author of this book and used this celebrity to advance her struggle to advance the lives of refugee slaves during the Civil War and of freed slaves after the Civil War, the racism that followed the imposition of Jim Crow Segregation and the US grab for colonies in Asia and Latin America in the late 19th and 20th Centuries led to the memory of her work being extinguished. By the 1950s and 1960s the scholarly world had come to believe this book was a fiction written by Lydia Maria Child. No one familiar with Child could think that she would do such a thing.
We owe Jean Fagan Yellin and her collaborators the honor of resurrecting Harriet Jacob's authorship and career. In a startling masterpiece of research ,Yellin's team documented the truth of everything narrated in this book. We are also enriched by Yellin's recent biography entitled Harriet Jacobs.
Besides the usual, Incidents represents a catalog of different ways to escape or lessen the impact of slavery. We have the noble faithful servent in the person of Linda Brent's mother who buys herself with the aid of white who honors her position, we have attempts to escape through the sexual favors of a white man, we have people buying their way out of slavery, we have violent and non violent escapes. We also see Linda Brent's resistence and the success of her clandestine life and later her escapes to Philiadephia, then New York, then England, as a result not only of her individual bravery, character, and devotion to her people and her family and her honor, but of the existence of resources beyond the slave and Black community that can free not only the individual slave but put an end to slavery. We also have the racism that made Jacobs feel not totally free in the North.
This is the crucial place Incidents belongs. The publications (Uncle Tom was first published as a serial in an antislavery newspaper and later published as a book) of Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1850 and 1852 unleashed at the dialog opened among contemporary African American texts about how to eliminate slavery in response to Stowe's great work. Harriet Beecher Stowe had recommended the Christic experience of evangelical Christianity in Uncle Tom, Martin Delany recommended the reculturation of Blacks by a bourgeois independent state's aristocratic and cultural leadership, William Wells Brown pointed to the ship of capitalism coming the vanquish the slave ships.
Jacob's text enters this debate with an array of forces within the African American slave and free community, as well as within the Southern white community, as well as the Northern and even international community that can be used to defeat slavery. We have the slaves themselves debating, organizing, and resisting. We have freed Blacks North and South helping. We have whites in the South itself helping, if inadequately. We have supporters of women's rights and opponents of slavery among the women of the North. We have the international opponents of slavery in Britain and beyond.
Jacobs highlights not only her own incredibly courageous resistance to slavery, but to the array of forces available to fight slavery. In the weeks and months after this book was published in 1861, those same forces did in fact overthrow slavery and crush it forever more.
This is a stirring book written by an articulate and educated writer. Indeed contrary to what is said elsewhere, even narratives written or told by semiliterate African Americans who escaped slavery never contained dialect, but were written in clear standard English. Indeed, scholars have noted that where Jacobs tries to reproduce Black English spoken by unacculturated slaves, she had to fall back on the conventions of theatrical stereotypical imitations of Black English, rather than reproduce real Black English. She had been reared in a standard English environment, had escaped and lived and functioned among an even more stardard English environment, and by the time she wrote this book, almost 20 years after she had escaped from slavery, she was actually unfamiliar with real Black English!
Not only was Jacobs literate, but she was apparently very familiar with contemporary Womens or sentimental novels exemplified by Uncle Tom and Susan Warner's Wide Wide World.
Jacobs had spent much time in her bondage in Edenton, reading. Later, in Rochester New York, Jacobs ran a anti-slavery reading room associated with Frederick Douglass's North Star. For nearly a decade in New York, Jacobs worked as a house keeper and nanny for one of the most popular journalists in the country. She also knew and received support from her boss's estranbed sister, the widely popular journalist and fiction writer Sara Payson Willis Parton, known by her pen name Fannie Fern. In Ruth Hall, Parton's famous novel a roman A clef biography, Fanny Fern, there isa chacter obviously modeled after Harriet Jacobs. Jacob's maintained an extensive correspondence with some of leading activists in the womens and antislavery movements of her time in both the United States and Great Britain.
Incidents follows the styles and conventions of the sentimental novels so well that for decades many believed that it was actually a novel written by a white female sentimental author, not by a escaped slave. The Sentimental novels whose central work is to create sympathy usually signfied by the reader's tears, by the suffering, the righteousness, and ultimately the lack of physical power in a wicked world for its heroines and heroes. To that extent, they reflected the lack of social power and opportunity for liberation of 19th Century women.
Jacobs has a totally different approach, remarkable given these conventions. Susan Warner, author of the first big blockbuster novel, Wide Wide World, could make a day in the life of a 10 year old girl seem like a life of torture. Yet, Jacobs forgo the obvious, easy opportunity to dwell on Harriet Jacobs's undeniably extreme suffering hiding in an attick. Instead the book focuses on her spirit of resistance, the availability of allies, and the real possibilities for her deliverence through her own power. Rather than the isolated slave mother locked in an attic, Jacob's Linda Brent is a person who is helped in her struggle by white and black, free and slave in Edenton, helped by sailors and antislavery activists up and done the US coast and in Canada, and helped by people as far away as England. Rather than a victim who deserves our tears, Jacobs shows how there are forces to help her fight for freedom, and she wins.
If in the weeks and months in 1860 and early 1861 when this book was written the slave power seemed unstoppable. Yet, the power, the ability to act, the ability to defeat slavery shown in Jacob's book, discloses the forces and the will that would abolish slavery forever in a few brief years.
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Summary: Amazing Account of Our History!!
Review: Jacobs has contributed a wonderful document to our nation's history of her experiences as a slave. This is a must-read for anyone with an interest in our country's history!!
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Summary: Title to be Revised
Review: The Wilson brothers of Ladera Heights, California are Hot Boyz. Mason is a successful, professional golfer with big bank, a huge mansion, luxurious cars, and a gorgeous wife and two kids. Mason's problem is he neglects his family because he spends so some much time on the golf circuit. Claude is fine as frog hair split three ways with his NBA build and classy style. Claude owns the most successful realty business in the area but can't get over the drama of a past relationship. Then there is Torino, the baby brother, tall and handsome with a smile that will take your breath away. Torino has big dreams but no finances to back them. So, in the meantime, Torino manages Mason's club, Foreplay, until something better comes along.
The outside world believes that the Wilson brothers have it all -fame, fortune, stunning women, and all the status that goes along with it. The secrets of their ideal existence start to threaten their big balla lifestyles. As the skeletons fall out of the closet, the family has to reach down to the core of its existence to maintain its closeness. The women behind the Wilson brothers pull them through. Mason's wife, Mercedes, closes the distance in the relationship with her husband while maintaining her high profile job and careful watch over their children. Claude's wife, Venus, takes the time to mourn for her friend and realizes that her marriage is worth saving. Torino finally leaves his player days for Sequoia. Sequoia is a professional sista with no nonsense ghetto flava that turns Torino from his player days to monogamous lover.
Hot Boyz is a great story that piques your interest right from the start. The tales of death, family drama, and potential stalker girlfriends and mistresses keeps you on the edge of your seat. Hot Boyz is a tale about family and the importance of staying together no matter what happens. Even though the book isn't as urban as I thought it would be it is definitely worth reading. The author does a fantastic job drawing you into the character's lives while keeping you guessing on their next move. Get ready to be entertained because you won't believe what happens in the end.
Reviewed by Esther "Ess" Mays of Loose Leaves Book Review
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