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Perhaps young Harriet Jacobs never imagined herself as a front-runner against the very institution she was powerless against.
After all, her six-year old self quietly meandered throughout the plantation without much thought. She was never whipped or beaten with the masters she had as a youngster, nor with new ones after her old ones died. More so, she experienced other types of trauma. I was born a slave; but I never knew till six years of happy childhood had passed away. |
Jacobs story begins on a large plantation in Edenton, North Carolina. She was born to Elijah and Delilah Jacobs in 1813, both whom belonged to different "families." After the death of her mother, was sent to be cared for by Margaret Horniblow, her mother's master. The older woman welcomed the young Harriet so openly she taught Harriet how to read, write, and sew.
So much Jacobs learned under Horniblow's tutelage that Jacobs became quite skilled in the art of story-telling and other forms of verse. However, after the old women's passing, Jacobs was passed unto the "care" of Horniblow's neice, whose father was named James Norcom. |
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This unwanted attention from the master led to 12 year-old Jacobs, 16, engaging with a lawyer named Samuel Sawyer, in hopes of deterring Norcom's "conquest."
It proved unsuccessful, though. And the children from the affair with Sawyer aggravated the Doctor more so, leading Jacobs to go into hiding. She hid in the attic of her grandmother's home for about 7 years, leaving the young women with physical anomalies for the majority of her life. After returning to the world of the walking, Harriet Jacobs quickly made her escape to the north through boarding a ship at the Edenton port., arriving in New York after. |
Although suffering abuse beyond the whip and being barred from seeing her children while in hiding, were it not for those very circumstances, Harriet Jacobs would not have been the powerful women she is known today. If her toils as a slave were not as numbing as they had been, maybe her passion for abolition would not have been as potent, and her biography as compelling.
Let's learn about her public image and work!
Let's learn about her public image and work!