Harriet Jacobs Freedom Movement

By the eighteenth century in the United States, slavery was a well-established institution that was characterized by a heavily unequal power balance between masters and the enslaved. The system of slavery itself ran contradictory to the New Republic’s ideals of a government who sought to protect the “life, liberty, and property” of its citizens, but to those who were bound to slavery through capture or inheritance, enslavement was the ultimate denial of these basic human rights and whose existence was devalued to that of property. In this institution, the unquestionable power wielded by slave owners bred a culture of cruelty and abuse. Physical and psychological violence were tools employed to counteract resistance from the enslaved. At the

intersection of gender and violence, enslaved women were more vulnerable to sexually coercive behavior and sexual abuse than their male counterparts. However, it should be recognized that despite these oppressive conditions enslaved women found ways to retain some power in these liaisons, using their status of enslavement to their advantage. In order to prove this, it is necessary to begin by examining the evolving colonial slave codes that left enslaved black women vulnerable to their white slave masters’ sexual overtures.
First, let us look back and observe the progression of colonial slave codes, starting with the Virginia Slave Law of 1662. As chattel slavery began to saturate Southern plantations as a more favorable labor source, a rise in mixed-race shadow families began to follow shortly thereafter as slave owners sexually coerced, raped, and impregnated their enslaved women. The raping of enslaved women had two major consequences. These liaisons created mixed-race children whose very existence undermined the social order of slavery which depended “heavily on marking difference of status (slave or free)—by visible bodily difference (black or white)” ("According to the condition of the mother...”, 107). So the proposed solution in keeping with the simplicity of this social order, it was made into law that children borne out of these liaisons would follow the condition of the mother, thus reinforcing the disenfranchisement of black slave families and the supremacy of whites. The second consequence is a direct result of the law, partus sequitur ventrem, as it provided a shield for slave owners and other related abusers. The law essentially pardoned them from the traditional paternal duties of care and responsibility of their illegitimate children, and instead, allowed them to make a profit off of the children by increasing their slave base without the need of purchase or trade. Likewise, their children could be sold outright for a profit as well. Enslaved black women not only contributed to the plantation's wealth through their labor intensive work but through their reproductive work, a feature that added much value to their worth.
Next, we will examine the life of Harriet Jacobs.

It is through her lived experience that we can better understand the varying types of coercion used by slave masters to influence sexual interactions as well as the recourse taken when their attempts were unsuccessful. Harriet Jacobs was born into slavery in 1813. Both of her parents, Elijah Knox and Delilah Horniblow, were enslaved as well. By the age of twelve, she was under the charge of James and Mary Norcum, but it was not until Harriet was sixteen that James began his sexual pursuit of her. Initially, Harriet was able to avoid these blatant sexual advances by ensuring they remained in the presence of other people, but "James structured Harriet's work so that she would be alone with him" (Block, 181). She was ordered to bring him meals, to come to his office to run errands, and in a final desperate attempt, "James ordered his four-year-old daughter to sleep near him, thus requiring that Harriet also sleep in his room [...]" (Block, 181). By controlling Harriet’s “routine, her work requirements, and her physical presence”, James had the ability to define the terms of their interactions (Block, 108). When James’ overtures had begun to draw notice from his wife, he had to “reconfigure his behavior” and “[reverted] to physical gestures instead of words to convey his sexual desire” (Block, 182). When that method did not elicit a favorable response to James, he began writing notes to her, but Harriet “used her own

position as a slave to avoid [his] sexual overtures” by pretending to be “too stupid to understand his signs and too illiterate to read his notes” (Block, 182). By “challenging [his] right to force her into a sexual relationship”, Harriet effectively “[disrupted] his original attempts at a seamless consensual interaction” (Block, 181).
Finally, we will discuss the life of Sally Hemings.

Sally, a young slave girl, was only fourteen at the time of her remarkable journey from Virginia to Paris, France. She had accompanied Thomas Jefferson’s youngest daughter Polly on the journey and was assigned to work with her brother James in the Jefferson’s temporary Parisian home. Evidence points that at some time in that brief, two-year stint in Paris, Sally had become the concubine of Thomas Jefferson. While there is no solid evidence like personal journal entries, court proceedings, or slavery documentation directly proving that they were romantically involved, what data we do have are subtle clues in their intertwining time lines that we can only interpret. By taking on the assumption that their concubinage was real, which would not be far-fetched considering the anti-miscegenation laws of the time and the proclivity of white slave owners taking on sexual interactions with their slaves, the biggest clue might lie in the agreement of Sally Hemings to return to an antebellum Virginia where she would remain enslaved. “Being under French law gave [her] the opportunity to claim free status” and presented “an extraordinary moment of leverage” (Gordon-Reed, 98). Ultimately, her decision was to stay by Jefferson’s side whether for some level of commitment and affection or for the “elemental desire”, “the human desire for a secure family life” (Gordon-Reed, 100).

In final, despite the violence, hardship, and oppression

of slavery, these enslaved women, Harriet Jacobs and Sally Hemings, found ways to apply their small amount of influence and in turn, assert the humanity they were so denied. By breaking down the law that effectively hid miscegenation of slave owners and unfolding the women’s lived experience of slavery in the antebellum era, it helped us navigate the complex and often uncertain reality they faced.