Life of a slave girl by Harriet Jacobs essays

Life of a slave girl by Harriet Jacobs essays Harriet Jacobs whose pen name was Linda Brent, was born into slavery. In her experience as a slave she encountered many problems with race and with gender. Harriet Jacobs was a slave who had a happy childhood. As a child her mother taught her many traits that would later prove to be useful. Her mother taught her to never give up without a fight. Jacobs was six years old when her mother died, but it wasn't until the death of her kind mistress that Jacobs began to feel the real sting of slavery. In the house of her mothers mistress she was taught to read and write. When the mistress died Jacobs was willed to a three year old niece, where Jacobs endured cruelty from the Mrs. Flint and sexual harassment from Dr. Flint. Around the time Harriet turned 15, Mr. Flint began his relentless efforts to bend the slave girl's will. At first he whispered "foul words" in her ear. As time went on his tactics became more overt. Still Harriet refused to give in. To get Harriet away from h is wife, who was suspicious of her husband's intentions, he built a cottage for the girl slave four miles from town. Harriet had previously asked Mr. Flint for permission to marry a free black man, and Mr. Flint had violently refused. Determined to fight the advances of her master and eventually obtain freedom, Jacobs entered into a relationship with an unmarried, white neighbor who was attracted to her. The relationship produced two children. In desperation to escape Dr. Flint, Jacobs planned escape, first for herself, and then for her children. In June of 1835, after seven years of mistreatment, Harriet escaped. For a short time she stayed with various neighbors, both black and white. Then she moved into a tiny crawlspace above a porch built by her grandmother and uncle. The space was nine feet long and seven feet wide. Its sloping ceiling, only three feet high at one end, didn't allow her to turn while laying down without hitting her sho...