Slave Narrative Research

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 In the Slave narrative Incidents in The Life of a Slave Girl, by Harriet Ann Jacobs, Harriet retells the story of her life as a slave from beginning to end. Harriet's life began with a loving family consisting of a skilled father a loving mother and a little brother named Willie. Her entire family were technically slaves but her father was such a skilled carpenter that he was allowed to live in his own house and pay his mistress a certain amount of money per year to have his two children and his wife live with him. Harriet talks a lot about her grandmother throughout the story as she was a key loving supportive figure in Harriet's life. Harriet's grandmother was a slave as well and a superb cook who was loved by everyone who met her. Harriet's grandmother was permitted by her mistress to make money from baking after she had finished all of her work for the day. One day her mistress asked for $300 from Harriet's grandmothers who obliged believing her mistress would pay it back but she never did and Harriet's grandmother was outed $300 which she wanted to use to pay for her children's freedom. When Harriet turned six her mother died which lead to her being distributed to her mother's mistress who loved Harriet like a daughter and treated her very well and taught her how to read and write. Upon her death, Harriet was not freed but distributed to her mistress's sister's daughter who was only five at the time so Harriet was controlled by Mrs. Flint who was married to a Dr. Flint. They were both cruel people and to make matters worse Harriet's brother Willie was also sent to the Flint's. Harriet relays the horrors of her time with the Flints and the slave auctions that happened every new year. She also talks about how she fell in love with another slave named Benjamin who ran away from his master and then was recaptured and sold to a slave trader. She also talks about the unwanted advances from Dr. Flint that she had to deal with. And that is just the beginning of Harriet's story, riddled with tragedy and heartbreak, the rest can be read in  Incidents in The Life of a Slave Girl.

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