Post by Auset on Feb 4, 2004 12:01:43 GMT -5
In an effort to escape from slavery, for seven years, Harriet Jacobs, a slave in North Carolina, lived in a small crawl space above the storage room in her grandmother's house. She suffered many years with limited light, little air, and not much room to move.
What led her to confine herself to a crawl space provides a notion of the desperation that she felt. Until she was twelve she had a kind mistress, but upon her death she was bequeathed to the young Norcom daughter. At the Norcom home, Jacobs was subjected to sexual advances from Dr. Norcom (named Dr. Flint in her autobiography) who wanted to make her his concubine. In an attempt to thwart his plans, Jacobs became pregnant by a white unmarried lawyer.
It was after she had two children by the lawyer, that Jacobs began to see the necessity of sparing her children from a life of slavery. Out of desperation, she escaped and lived in the small storage space. Remarkably, after Dr. Norcom's unsuccessful capture of Jacobs, he unknowingly sold her children to their father. Unfortunately, their father did not fulfill his promise to give the children their freedom and it would be several years until Jacobs and her children would be free. It would not come until after she escaped to the north where the woman who employed her bought her freedom.
After Jacobs obtained her freedom in 1863, she moved to Alexandria, Virginia where she organized a medical care facility for the victims of the Civil War and established the Jacobs Free School. The school provided black teachers to refugees. In 1865, the school moved to Savannah, Georgia. In 1877, it permanently settled in Washington, D.C.
To find out more about Harriet Jacobs and her struggle for freedom, read her autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (published under the name Linda Brent). This book provides a fascinating look into the life of a slave woman.
What led her to confine herself to a crawl space provides a notion of the desperation that she felt. Until she was twelve she had a kind mistress, but upon her death she was bequeathed to the young Norcom daughter. At the Norcom home, Jacobs was subjected to sexual advances from Dr. Norcom (named Dr. Flint in her autobiography) who wanted to make her his concubine. In an attempt to thwart his plans, Jacobs became pregnant by a white unmarried lawyer.
It was after she had two children by the lawyer, that Jacobs began to see the necessity of sparing her children from a life of slavery. Out of desperation, she escaped and lived in the small storage space. Remarkably, after Dr. Norcom's unsuccessful capture of Jacobs, he unknowingly sold her children to their father. Unfortunately, their father did not fulfill his promise to give the children their freedom and it would be several years until Jacobs and her children would be free. It would not come until after she escaped to the north where the woman who employed her bought her freedom.
After Jacobs obtained her freedom in 1863, she moved to Alexandria, Virginia where she organized a medical care facility for the victims of the Civil War and established the Jacobs Free School. The school provided black teachers to refugees. In 1865, the school moved to Savannah, Georgia. In 1877, it permanently settled in Washington, D.C.
To find out more about Harriet Jacobs and her struggle for freedom, read her autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (published under the name Linda Brent). This book provides a fascinating look into the life of a slave woman.
