Michael MayDr. WachterEN209-01April 27, 2014Harriet Jacobs: Slave MomGrowing up in this country, it was always important to know about the best and worst times America has gone through. Every history class has made it clear that the lowest point occurred during the era of slavery in the 18th and 19th centuries. These constant classroom reminders mainly consisted of different fiction and non-fiction stories. Each story spans exceptional experiences and provides insight into this dark time. After hearing and reading many of these stories, it seems that they can all blend together and it can be difficult to distinguish one from the other; that is until Harriet Jacobs joined the mix. Harriet Jacob's experience as a slave offers a story unlike any other in showing the despair, suffering, and complete agony endured by enslaved women. There are many male authors of slave narratives that reference the persecution of enslaved African American women by white men. , except that none had addressed women's points of view as directly as Jacobs had chosen. In her memoir, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Jacobs recalls her remarkable story of the trials and accomplishments she endured as well as the harm done to others around her. She takes the reader on a journey through the life of a woman dehumanized from birth. She not only acknowledges the sexual abuse she suffered, but also explains how she planned to use her sexuality to escape her master's abuse. Throughout her story, Jacobs focuses on the importance of family and motherhood. She details the trauma of being separated from her two children, named Ellen and Benny, during her seven years in the middle...... middle of paper ...... she is unhappy that women White abolitionists were able to sacrifice their own comfort. to help a slave. This is the message that Jacobs hopes to etch deeply into the mind of the intended reader. Like most slave narratives, the reader feels some form of guilt and sympathy for the protagonist, but for Harriet Jacobs, there is much more to feel. Freedom is arguably life's greatest gift and losing it can sometimes be a fate worse than death. In Harriet Jacob's story, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, she recounts the painful truths that tormented enslaved women in the 19th century. This is a story worth reading long after this time. Work Cited Jacobs, Harriet Ann. Incidents in the life of a slave girl. Ed, L. Maria Child Boston, 1861. Wikisource.< http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Incidents_in_the_Life_of_a_Slave_Girl>