Harriet Jacobs
Only known formal photograph of Harriet Jacobs, 1894[1]
Born 1813
Edenton, North Carolina
Died March 7, 1897 (aged 84)
Washington, D.C.
Resting place Mount Auburn Cemetery
Occupation Writer, nanny, and relief worker
Nationality American
Genre Autobiography
Notable works Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861)
Children Joseph, Louisa
Relatives John S. Jacobs (brother)
Harriet Jacobs[2] (1813 or 1815[3] – March 7, 1897) was an African-American writer. Born into slavery in Edenton, North Carolina, she was sexually harassed by her master. When he threatened to sell her children, she hid in a tiny crawlspace under the roof of her grandmother's house, where she wasn't even able to stand. After staying there for seven years, she finally managed to escape to New York, where she was reunited with her children Joseph and Louisa Matilda and her brother John S. Jacobs. She found work as a nanny for the children of Nathaniel Parker Willis and got into contact with abolitionist and feminist reformers. Her autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, published in 1861, is now considered an "American classic".[4]
During and immediately after the Civil War, she went to the Union-occupied parts of the South together with her daughter, organizing help and founding two schools for fugitive and freed slaves.
Early life in slavery[edit]
Dr. James Norcom
When Jacobs was six years old, her mother died. She then lived with her owner, a daughter of the deceased tavern keeper, who taught her not only to sew, but also to read and write. Only very few slaves were literate, although it was only in 1830 that North Carolina explicitly outlawed teaching slaves to read or write.[12] Although Harriet's brother John succeeded in teaching himself to read,[13] he still wasn't able to write when he escaped from slavery as a young adult.[14]
Coping with sexual harassment[edit]
Norcom soon started harassing Jacobs sexually, causing the jealousy of his wife. When Jacobs fell in love with a free black man who wanted to buy her freedom and marry her, Norcom intervened and forbade her to continue with the relationship.[19] Hoping for protection from Norcom's harassment, Jacobs started a relationship with Samuel Sawyer, a white lawyer and member of North Carolina's white elite, who would some years later be elected to the House of Representatives. Sawyer became the father of Jacobs's only children, Joseph (born 1829/30)[20] and Louisa Matilda (born 1832/33).[21] When she learned of Jacobs's pregnancy, Mrs. Norcom forbade her to return to her house, which enabled Jacobs to live with her grandmother. Still, Norcom continued his harassment during his numerous visits there; the distance as the crow flies between the two houses was only 600 feet (180 m).[22]
Seven years concealed[edit]
In April 1835, Norcom finally moved Jacobs from her grandmother's to the plantation of his son, some 6 miles (9.7 km) away.[23] He also threatened to expose her children to the hard life of the plantation slaves and to sell them, separately and without the mother, after some time.[24] In June 1835, Harriet Jacobs decided to escape. A white woman, who was a slaveholder herself, hid her at great personal risk in her house. After a short time, Jacobs had to hide in a swamp near the town, and at last she found refuge in a crawl space under the roof of her grandmother's house. The garret was only 9 feet (2.7 m) by 7 feet (2.1 m) and 3 feet (0.91 m) at its highest point.[25] The impossibility of bodily exercise caused health problems which she still felt while writing her autobiography many years later.[26] She bored some small holes into the roof, so that fresh air and some light could enter into her garret. The light was barely sufficient to sew and to read the Bible and newspapers.[27]
Map of the town center of Edenton. Norcom's house is marked N, Sawyer's S, and Molly Horniblow's M.[28]
Norcom reacted by selling her children and her brother John to a slave trader demanding that they should be sold in a different state, thus expecting to separate them forever from their mother and sister. However, the trader was secretly in league with Sawyer, to whom he sold all three of them, thus frustrating Norcom's plan on revenge. In her autobiography, Jacobs accuses Sawyer of not having kept his promise to legally manumit their children.[29] Still, Sawyer allowed his enslaved children to live with their great-grandmother Molly Horniblow. After Sawyer married in 1838, Jacobs asked her grandmother to remind him of his promise. He asked and obtained Jacobs's approval to send their daughter to live with his cousin in Brooklyn, New York, where slavery had already been abolished. He also suggested to send their son to the Free States.[30] While locked in her cell, Jacobs could often observe her unsuspecting children.[31]
Escape and freedom[edit]
In 1842, Jacobs finally got a chance to escape by boat to Philadelphia, where she was aided by anti-slavery activists of the Philadelphia Vigilant Committee.[32] After a short stay, she continued to New York City. Although she had no references, Mary Stace Willis, the wife of the then extremely popular author Nathaniel Parker Willis, accepted to hire Jacobs as the nanny of her baby daughter Imogen. The two women agreed on a trial period of one week, not suspecting that the relationship between the two families would last into the next generation, until the death of Louisa Matilda Jacobs at the home of Edith Willis Grinnell, the daughter of Nathaniel Willis and his second wife, in 1917.[33]
Boston in 1841
In 1843 Jacobs heard that Norcom was on his way to New York to force her back into slavery, which was legal for him to do everywhere inside the United States. She asked Mary Willis for a leave of two weeks and went to her brother John in Boston. John Jacobs, in his capacity as personal servant, had accompanied his owner Sawyer on his marriage trip through the North in 1838. He had gained his freedom by leaving his master in New York. After that he had gone whaling and had been absent for more than three years. From Boston, Harriet Jacobs wrote to her grandmother asking her to send Joseph there, so that he could live there with his uncle John. After Joseph's arrival, she returned to her work as Imogen Willis's nanny.[34] Her work with the Willis family came to an abrupt end in October 1843, when Jacobs learned that her whereabouts had been betrayed to Norcom. Again, she had to flee to Boston, which where the strength of the abolitionist movement guaranteed a certain level of security.[35] Moving to Boston also gave her the opportunity to take her daughter Louisa Matilda from the house of Sawyer's cousin in Brooklyn, where she had been treated not much better than a slave.[36]
In Boston Jacobs took on odd jobs.[37] Her stay there was interrupted by the death of Mary Stace Willis in March 1845. Nathaniel Willis took his daughter Imogen on a ten-month visit to the family of his deceased wife in England. For the journey, Jacobs resumed her job as nanny. In her autobiography, she reflects on the experiences made during the journey: She didn't notice any sign of racism, which often embittered her life in the USA. In consequence of this, she gained a new access to her Christian faith. At home, Christian ministers treating blacks with contempt or even buying and selling slaves had been an obstacle to her spiritual life.[38]
Only known formal photograph of Harriet Jacobs, 1894[1]
Born 1813
Edenton, North Carolina
Died March 7, 1897 (aged 84)
Washington, D.C.
Resting place Mount Auburn Cemetery
Occupation Writer, nanny, and relief worker
Nationality American
Genre Autobiography
Notable works Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861)
Children Joseph, Louisa
Relatives John S. Jacobs (brother)
Harriet Jacobs[2] (1813 or 1815[3] – March 7, 1897) was an African-American writer. Born into slavery in Edenton, North Carolina, she was sexually harassed by her master. When he threatened to sell her children, she hid in a tiny crawlspace under the roof of her grandmother's house, where she wasn't even able to stand. After staying there for seven years, she finally managed to escape to New York, where she was reunited with her children Joseph and Louisa Matilda and her brother John S. Jacobs. She found work as a nanny for the children of Nathaniel Parker Willis and got into contact with abolitionist and feminist reformers. Her autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, published in 1861, is now considered an "American classic".[4]
During and immediately after the Civil War, she went to the Union-occupied parts of the South together with her daughter, organizing help and founding two schools for fugitive and freed slaves.
Early life in slavery[edit]
Dr. James Norcom
When Jacobs was six years old, her mother died. She then lived with her owner, a daughter of the deceased tavern keeper, who taught her not only to sew, but also to read and write. Only very few slaves were literate, although it was only in 1830 that North Carolina explicitly outlawed teaching slaves to read or write.[12] Although Harriet's brother John succeeded in teaching himself to read,[13] he still wasn't able to write when he escaped from slavery as a young adult.[14]
Coping with sexual harassment[edit]
Norcom soon started harassing Jacobs sexually, causing the jealousy of his wife. When Jacobs fell in love with a free black man who wanted to buy her freedom and marry her, Norcom intervened and forbade her to continue with the relationship.[19] Hoping for protection from Norcom's harassment, Jacobs started a relationship with Samuel Sawyer, a white lawyer and member of North Carolina's white elite, who would some years later be elected to the House of Representatives. Sawyer became the father of Jacobs's only children, Joseph (born 1829/30)[20] and Louisa Matilda (born 1832/33).[21] When she learned of Jacobs's pregnancy, Mrs. Norcom forbade her to return to her house, which enabled Jacobs to live with her grandmother. Still, Norcom continued his harassment during his numerous visits there; the distance as the crow flies between the two houses was only 600 feet (180 m).[22]
Seven years concealed[edit]
In April 1835, Norcom finally moved Jacobs from her grandmother's to the plantation of his son, some 6 miles (9.7 km) away.[23] He also threatened to expose her children to the hard life of the plantation slaves and to sell them, separately and without the mother, after some time.[24] In June 1835, Harriet Jacobs decided to escape. A white woman, who was a slaveholder herself, hid her at great personal risk in her house. After a short time, Jacobs had to hide in a swamp near the town, and at last she found refuge in a crawl space under the roof of her grandmother's house. The garret was only 9 feet (2.7 m) by 7 feet (2.1 m) and 3 feet (0.91 m) at its highest point.[25] The impossibility of bodily exercise caused health problems which she still felt while writing her autobiography many years later.[26] She bored some small holes into the roof, so that fresh air and some light could enter into her garret. The light was barely sufficient to sew and to read the Bible and newspapers.[27]
Map of the town center of Edenton. Norcom's house is marked N, Sawyer's S, and Molly Horniblow's M.[28]
Norcom reacted by selling her children and her brother John to a slave trader demanding that they should be sold in a different state, thus expecting to separate them forever from their mother and sister. However, the trader was secretly in league with Sawyer, to whom he sold all three of them, thus frustrating Norcom's plan on revenge. In her autobiography, Jacobs accuses Sawyer of not having kept his promise to legally manumit their children.[29] Still, Sawyer allowed his enslaved children to live with their great-grandmother Molly Horniblow. After Sawyer married in 1838, Jacobs asked her grandmother to remind him of his promise. He asked and obtained Jacobs's approval to send their daughter to live with his cousin in Brooklyn, New York, where slavery had already been abolished. He also suggested to send their son to the Free States.[30] While locked in her cell, Jacobs could often observe her unsuspecting children.[31]
Escape and freedom[edit]
In 1842, Jacobs finally got a chance to escape by boat to Philadelphia, where she was aided by anti-slavery activists of the Philadelphia Vigilant Committee.[32] After a short stay, she continued to New York City. Although she had no references, Mary Stace Willis, the wife of the then extremely popular author Nathaniel Parker Willis, accepted to hire Jacobs as the nanny of her baby daughter Imogen. The two women agreed on a trial period of one week, not suspecting that the relationship between the two families would last into the next generation, until the death of Louisa Matilda Jacobs at the home of Edith Willis Grinnell, the daughter of Nathaniel Willis and his second wife, in 1917.[33]
Boston in 1841
In 1843 Jacobs heard that Norcom was on his way to New York to force her back into slavery, which was legal for him to do everywhere inside the United States. She asked Mary Willis for a leave of two weeks and went to her brother John in Boston. John Jacobs, in his capacity as personal servant, had accompanied his owner Sawyer on his marriage trip through the North in 1838. He had gained his freedom by leaving his master in New York. After that he had gone whaling and had been absent for more than three years. From Boston, Harriet Jacobs wrote to her grandmother asking her to send Joseph there, so that he could live there with his uncle John. After Joseph's arrival, she returned to her work as Imogen Willis's nanny.[34] Her work with the Willis family came to an abrupt end in October 1843, when Jacobs learned that her whereabouts had been betrayed to Norcom. Again, she had to flee to Boston, which where the strength of the abolitionist movement guaranteed a certain level of security.[35] Moving to Boston also gave her the opportunity to take her daughter Louisa Matilda from the house of Sawyer's cousin in Brooklyn, where she had been treated not much better than a slave.[36]
In Boston Jacobs took on odd jobs.[37] Her stay there was interrupted by the death of Mary Stace Willis in March 1845. Nathaniel Willis took his daughter Imogen on a ten-month visit to the family of his deceased wife in England. For the journey, Jacobs resumed her job as nanny. In her autobiography, she reflects on the experiences made during the journey: She didn't notice any sign of racism, which often embittered her life in the USA. In consequence of this, she gained a new access to her Christian faith. At home, Christian ministers treating blacks with contempt or even buying and selling slaves had been an obstacle to her spiritual life.[38]
