Harriet Jacobs

North Carolina · born or raised1813–1897

American slave, writer, and abolitionist (1815-1897)

Born in Edenton

nanny, writer, autobiographer

Quotations with a citation

Notwithstanding my grandmother's long and faithful service to her owners, not one of her children escaped the auction block. These God-breathing machines are no more, in the sight of their masters, than the cotton they plant, or the horses they tend.

I met my grandmother, who said, "Come with me, Linda;" and from her tone I knew that something sad had happened. She led me apart from the people, and then said, "My child, your father is dead." ... The good grandmother tried to comfort me. "Who knows the ways of God?" said she. "Perhaps they have been kindly taken from the evil days to come." Years afterwards I often thought of this. She promised to be a mother to her grandchildren, so far as she might be permitted to do so; and strengthened by her love, I returned to my master's. I thought I should be allowed to go to my father's house the next morning; but I was ordered to go for flowers, that my mistress's house might be decorated for an evening party. I spent the day gathering flowers and weaving them into festoons, while the dead body of my father was lying within a mile of me. What cared my owners for that? he was merely a piece of property. Moreover, they thought he had spoiled his children, by teaching them to feel that they were human beings.

I would ten thousand times rather that my children should be the half-starved paupers of Ireland than to be the most pampered among the slaves of America. I would rather drudge out my life on a cotton plantation, till the grave opened to give me rest, than to live with an unprincipled master and a jealous mistress. The felon's home in a penitentiary is preferable. He may repent, and turn from the error of his ways, and so find peace; but it is not so with a favorite slave. She is not allowed to have any pride of character. It is deemed a crime in her to wish to be virtuous.

The secrets of slavery are concealed like those of the Inquisition. My master was, to my knowledge, the father of eleven slaves. But did the mothers dare to tell who was the father of their children? Did the other slaves dare to allude to it, except in whispers among themselves? No, indeed! They knew too well the terrible consequences.

O virtuous reader! You never knew what it is to be a slave; to be entirely unprotected by law or custom; to have the laws reduce you to the condition of a chattel, entirely subject to the will of another. You never exhausted your ingenuity in avoiding the snares, and eluding the power of a hated tyrant; you never shuddered at the sound of his footsteps, and trembled within hearing of his voice.

There are no bonds so strong as those which are formed by suffering together.

I WAS born a slave; but I never knew it till six years of happy childhood had passed away.

His strongest wish was to purchase his children; but, though he several times offered his hard earnings for that purpose, he never succeeded.

My grandmother remained in her service as a slave; but her children were divided among her master's children.

We were not allowed to visit him; but we had known the jailer for years, and he was a kind-hearted man.

We are passing through times that will secure for us a higher and nobler celebration. American gold will never secure freedom equal rights and justice to our race. No! before these can come American slavery must be crushed, and its foul stain wiped from the Nation[‘]s escutcheon.

In the libraries

Open Library Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl · 1861 View library record ↗ Open Library Incidents in the life of a slave girl. Written by herself. Edited by L. Maria Child · 2006 View library record ↗ Open Library Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave / Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl · 1960 View library record ↗ Open Library The Marrow of Tradition and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl · 2020 View library record ↗ Open Library Three Narratives of Slavery · 2012 View library record ↗ Open Library Words of Ages · 2000 View library record ↗

Read Harriet Jacobs

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl 1861 Find a copy Incidents in the life of a slave girl. Written by herself. Edited by L. Maria Child 2006 Find a copy Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave / Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl 1960 Find a copy Words of Ages 2000 Find a copy Three Narratives of Slavery 2012 Find a copy The Marrow of Tradition and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl 2020 Find a copy