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Quest for freedom in harriet jacob's incidents of a slave girl
Quest for freedom in harriet jacob's incidents of a slave girl
Quest for freedom in harriet jacob's incidents of a slave girl
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Harriet Jacob and Sojourner Truth were two African American authors who wrote about what had to experience during their lives during slavery and the experiences during the women right movement. The Life and Incidents of a Slave Girl is the accounts of Harriet and her struggle to make it to the north both with her freedom and her children, which in the end she makes it there with both. Ain’t I a Woman? and what time of Night is it? Was written by Sojourner Truth and how she compared men’s and women’s rights to the recent issue of slavery.
Harriet Jacob along with Sojourner Truth were both runaway slaves. These two women had experienced two different types of southern slavery. Harriet who had never experienced that of what Sojourner had, she
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stated,” I was never cruelly overworked; I was never lacerated with the whip from head to foot; I was never so beaten and bruised that I could not turn from one side to the other; I never had my heel-strings cut to prevent my running away; I was never chained to a log and forced to drag it about, while I toiled in the fields from morning till night; I was never branded with hot iron, or torn by bloodhounds. On the contrary, I had always been kindly treated, and tenderly cared for…” (Incidents, pg.107). She had witnessed this with her own eyes but never experience it for herself. But she still yearned to be free, that she had just as much godly right as any free person did. Dr. Flint had treated her very well considering that he reminded her every time he got the chance that she was still his property and was allowed to do with whatever he pleased with her. All in all he allowed her to live a “normal” life even after she had her children. Sojourner Truth on the other hand had a different experience with slavery then that of Harriet Jacob. Like Harriet she too was born a slave, She was a very massive women, “Almost Amazon form, which stood six foot high”,(Ain’t I a woman, pg. #2) always working on the land, being sold from place to place. The claims were that she was just as large as most men, being placed alongside men in competitions against them and to work just like them in the field. “I could work as much and eat as much as any man…and bear the lash as well!” (Aint I a woman). She had been through what Jacob had described seeing and hearing while she was he plantation in the south. This was the physical stress she was put through, but emotionally stress she was placed right with Harriet. She had also seen her thirteen children sold into slavery far away from her. Not being able to do anything because as a slave she was unable to save them, she didn’t have the right to stop the auction. At the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio she stated,” I cried out in a mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me!” (Aint I a woman, pg. #2). That she had dealt with the physical and emotional challenges of working all day in a field and the loss of her children. That she cried over them and did that not make her a woman like any other woman sitting in the convention room. This is what Harriet went through when she was unable to make decisions for her children and her children’s father did not have papers to state they were free. She could not do anything for her children because she and her children were property and were unable to get help from anyone around them, without punishments being dealt. She unlike Truth was able to meet back with her children and complete her family again. Truth believed that the women’s rights movement in the north and the slavery conflict in the south went hand in hand.
That rights to anybody were the same that it didn’t matter on race or gender. While at the convention she had heard speeches given by local ministers and their agreement that men where on the higher on the society ladder then that of women. Giving arguments on four main categories: Superior intellect, how Christ would wanted equality he would of given the rights to the women before his death, and that of the first sin of Eve (Aint I A woman). All of the points the ministers made were why it was that women did not possess much power in a religious view. One minister had made a pointed out if Christ had intended to give women rights he would have done it before he had died. Sojourner having stated back, “He says women can’t have as much right as men, ‘cause Christ wasn’t a women! Whar did Christ come from?” (Aint I, pg. 2). That Christ had been born by a woman and had nothing to do with men at all. In a later speech she had stated,” the Bible says, sons and daughters ought to behave themselves before their mothers, but they don’t I’m watching…” (What time of night is it?). Many slave women had served as maid hands to young misters and misses of the plantation owners. They had served as second mothers to these children most of the time neglecting their own children. Much like Harriet and her grandmother, who had worked for the same women who now demanded …show more content…
their own rights. These slave mothers had a much more sense of fear of god or belief that by escaping in route of heaven was a better solution then that of returning to a plantation to work again, for another generation that they themselves had raised. This was a hard process to go over many generations. Harriet exposed this through the death of her aunt Nancy. These two women both lived very polar opposite lives both while on the plantation and in their freed lives.
Harriet Jacob had spent seven years in hiding in hopes to make it to the northern states to be free. She finally achieved it when the Dr. Flint had died and way followed by his daughter’s husband in Boston to have her buy her freedom. I have heard her say she would go to the ends of the earth, rather than pay any man or woman for her freedom, because she thinks she has a right to it. Besides, she couldn't do it, if she would, for she has spent her earnings to educate her children."(Incidents, pg. 180). She would never give up and there was no way that she would give in and pay for her own freedom. She had devoted her life to raising her children and educating them. While Sojourner Truth continued to persuaded people about the women’s rights. These women worked to get the truth out about the treatment they had received while in slavery. The Life and Incidents of a Slave Girl would be more convincing then the speeches of Sojourner Truth. Harriet had been fighting for a case for herself and a better life of her children where they would not have to live like she
had.
Harriet, Frederick, and Olaudah were all slaves sharing their stories and experiences in their lives as slaves. All of their stories were similar as they spoke of the cruelty, brutality and utter inhumaneness of the overseers and masters that enslaved them. The most common threads and similarity to their stories is that they fought for themselves and for others to escape the horrors of this immoral institution called slavery. They all realized the importance of education in determining their destiny and the destiny of all people under the grasps of oppression. Their participation in the antislavery movement helped to fuel the sentimentality that supported the abolishment of slavery all over the world.
Slavery is a term that can create a whirlwind of emotions for everyone. During the hardships faced by the African Americans, hundreds of accounts were documented. Harriet Jacobs, Charles Ball and Kate Drumgoold each shared their perspectives of being caught up in the world of slavery. There were reoccurring themes throughout the books as well as varying angles that each author either left out or never experienced. Taking two women’s views as well as a man’s, we can begin to delve deeper into what their everyday lives would have been like.
The Civil War lasted for four years, three weeks, and six days. The Civil War caused a numerous amount of good and bad things. Along with the union coming out victorious, slavery was abolished, territorial integrity was gained, the reconstruction era began, and Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Although, many people were involved in the process leading up to the civil war. Abolitionists played a huge role in the progression in civil rights. They fought for the freedom of slaves and the ceasing of slave trade from Africa. There were many activists involved in this movement, including Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth. These two women abolitionists are two of the most dynamic woman and well known abolitionists. Although Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth have many similarities, they have certain aspects that allow them to differ from each other. Despite their slight differences, Tubman and Truth were seemingly the most efficient and effective in their duties as abolitionists.
“ I had reasoned this out in my mind, there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other.”~Harriet Tubman. Harriet Tubman sacrificed her life and freedom as well. She organized the Underground Railroad, and freed hundreds of slaves. As if the journey wasn’t difficult enough,stated by the book, Who Was Harriet Tubman, “But the trip was even more dangerous after 1850. That was because the Fugitive Slave Law had been passed.”(pg.56) The Fugitive Slave Law meant that runaway slaves who made it to the free states had to be sent back to their masters. People were allowed to beat the slaves and sell them back into the South too. Even though the situation was tough, Harriet Tubman never gave up on what she thought was
...e that chattel slavery was a cruel, perverse institution that no human should ever have to endure. Most people realize today how hypocritical it was to call oneself a Christian, while treating slaves so horribly. Throughout her book, Harriet Jacobs, in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself, revealed Americans everywhere that slave owners were hypocrites, and calling themselves Christians was perhaps the greatest sin of all.
Harriet Tubman and John Brown had many similarities and differences from their life as an abolitionist, their goals in their lifetime, and their deaths. A difference the two share is Harriet was often called “Moses” because of her presence and courage to free the slaves which are synonymous with John being called “Old Osawatomie Brown for the actions he decided to take during his lifetime(Appleby 534). One thing they have in common is John had two spouses similar to Harriet who also had two spouses(“John Brown Biography” 3). John used the underground railroad as did Harriet during the time when slave hunters and slavery was increasing in America(Appleby 534). Another difference was Harriet was born in Dorchester County, Maryland whereas John was born in Torrington, Connecticut (“John Brown” 2). A distinction between the two is Tubman freed over 300 slaves whereas Brown was known for the raid on Harper’s Ferry(“John Brown” 9). Finally, John was hung on December 8, 1859, opposed to Harriet when she passed away of pneumonia on March 10, 1913(“John Brown’s Final Speech, 1859” 9). Nevertheless John Brown and Harriet Tubman had many similarities and differences including their nicknames, to their participation in the Underground
Deborah Gray White was one of the first persons to vigorously attempt to examine the abounding trials and tribulations that the slave women in the south were faced with. Mrs. White used her background skills acquired from participating in the Board of Governors Professor of History and Professor of Women 's and Gender Studies at Rutgers University to research the abundance of stories that she could gather insight from. It was during her studies that she pulled her title from the famous Ain’t I A Woman speech given by Sojourner Truth. In order to accurately report the discriminations that these women endured, White had to research whether the “stories” she was writing about were true or not.
Harriet was never considered a good slave. After her head injury, a neighbor wanted to hire her as a nurse-girl, and her owner was more than willing to let her go. (Taylor 8). Harriet was required to “do all the housework, milk the cows, as well as to be at the side of the cradle every time the little darling cried.” (Taylor 8). Because she wasn't able to be at all places at all times, she was beaten and sent back to her owner with the recommendation, “She don’t worth the salt that seasons her grub.” (Taylor 8). Once Harriet was returned, her owner greeted her with “I will break you in!” (Taylor 8). “From early morn till late at night she was made to work, beaten and cuffed upon the slightest provocation.” (Taylor 8).
In “Ain’t I a Woman” Sojourner Truth expresses her view on women's rights and tries to advocate equal rights for men and women at the Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio 1851. At this time slavery was still occurring down south African American males along with both African-American, and white women felt as if everyone should have equal rights. Truth got her point across by using rhetorical devices in her speech to persuade her audience.
Sojourner set out on her mission, to educate all people on the subject of slavery, and became a very powerful speaker. She became an influential speaker for women’s rights, as well for the abolishment of slavery all over the country. She became famous for being the first black women to speak out against slavery.
In Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, the author subjects the reader to a dystopian slave narrative based on a true story of a woman’s struggle for self-identity, self-preservation and freedom. This non-fictional personal account chronicles the journey of Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897) life of servitude and degradation in the state of North Carolina to the shackle-free promise land of liberty in the North. The reoccurring theme throughout that I strive to exploit is how the women’s sphere, known as the Cult of True Womanhood (Domesticity), is a corrupt concept that is full of white bias and privilege that has been compromised by the harsh oppression of slavery’s racial barrier. Women and the female race are falling for man’s
Harriet Jacobs story clearly shows the pain she suffered as a female slave, but it also showed the strength she proved to have within herself. At such a young age she went through things that I have never experienced. Her way of surviving is what truly inspires. Imagine just having to watch your children grow up before your very eyes and not being able to give them a hug or kiss. The simple things that our parents do today for us, the things we take for granted, are what she hoped and prayed she could do one day. Jacobs died in 1897, but she continued to fight for the rights of African
Born into slavery in 1797, Isabella Baumfree, who later switched her name to Sojourner Truth, became one of the most powerful supporters for Women’s Rights in the 19th century. Her childhood was spent in New York where she experienced the distress of being sold and was brutally beaten and abused like most other slaves. In 1827, after her owner failed to keep his promise to free her, Isabella escaped, or, as she later said to her owner, “I did not run away, I walked away by daylight….” After experiencing a religious change, Isabella became a preacher and in 1843 changed her name to Sojourner Truth. During this time period she became involved in the anti slavery movement, and by the 1850s she was also involved in the Women’s Rights movement . At the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, Sojourner Truth delivered what is now told to be one of the most famous abolitionist and Women’s Rights speeches in American history, “Ain’t I a Woman?” From her famous speech
...fighting for what was right. You need not be afraid to give us our rights for fear we'll take too much... if woman upset the world, do give her a chance to set it right side up again. 7 Sojourner Truth Was born into slavery in 1797 under the name "Isabella Braumfree", after strong spiritual convictions she change her name to the above mentioned. With a deep rooted motivation as did Sojourner, accompanied by a strong belief in God: enslavement would turn into freedom, illiteracy would turn into knowledge, underclassing would be reversed into being a national black leader, brutal murders would become the backbone of your strongest arguments as an abolitionist. In the fight for emancipation. Sojourner's spirituality was the guiding factor in her life an caused her to be one of the most outspoken women in the history of the United States of America. Soujourner Truth---
As female slaves such as Harriet Jacob continually were fighting to protect their self respect, and purity. Harriet Jacob in her narrative, the readers get an understanding of she was trying to rebel against her aggressive master, who sexually harassed her at young age. She wasn’t protected by the law, and the slaveholders did as they pleased and were left unpunished. Jacobs knew that the social group,who were“the white women”, would see her not as a virtuous woman but hypersexual. She states “I wanted to keep myself pure, - and I tried hard to preserve my self-respect, but I was struggling alone in the grasp of the demon slavery.” (Harriet 290)The majority of the white women seemed to criticize her, but failed to understand her conditions and she did not have the free will. She simply did not have that freedom of choice. It was the institution of slavery that failed to recognize her and give her the basic freedoms of individual rights and basic protection. Harriet Jacobs was determined to reveal to the white Americans the sexual exploitations that female slaves constantly fa...