Linda Brent: Summary

Jacobs uses the alias Linda Brent to tell her story. Linda was born into slavery but spends her early years in a happy home with her parents who are slaves, although they are fairly well off. At six-year-old, Linda is sent to live with her mother’s mistress. The mistress is kind to her and teaches her to read. After a few years, this mistress dies and sends Linda to a relative. Her new masters are cruel and neglectful. Dr. Flint, the father, soon begins pressuring Linda to have a sexual relationship with him. Linda struggles against Flint’s advances for several years, knowing that Flint will eventually get his way. In order to avoid this situation, Linda consents to a love affair with Mr. Sands, a white neighbor. Linda says that although she is ashamed

Hobbs will take Ellen back to the South, making it impossible for her to be with her daughter. Linda finds work as a nursemaid for the Bruces, who treat her very kindly. Dr. Flint continues after Linda, therefore she flees to Boston where she is reunited with Benny. Now Dr. Flint begins to claim that the sale of Benny and Ellen was illegal, and Linda is terrified that he will re-enslave them all. A few years later, Mrs. Bruce dies and Linda spends some time living with her children in Boston. She then spends a year in England caring for Mr. Bruce’s daughter, and for the first time enjoys freedom from racial prejudice. When she returns to her children in Boston, Ellen goes to boarding school and Benny moves to California with Linda’s brother. Mr. Bruce remarries, and Linda takes a position as a caretaker for the new baby. When Flint dies, his daughter Emily writes to Linda trying to claim ownership of her. Congress passes the Fugitive Slave Act making Linda and her children at a higher risk to kidnapping and re-enslavement. Emily Flint and her husband, Mr. Dodge, arrive in New York to capture Linda, so she goes into hiding. The new Mrs. Bruce offers to purchase her freedom, but Linda