Harriet Jacobs Vocabulary

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Antebellum

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occurring or existing before a particular war, especially the American Civil War

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Biography

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a true story of a person's life that is written by someone else. This true story has all the elements of fiction: characters, setting and plot

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Biographer

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the one who writes the biography. If you were writing the story of Barack Obama's life, then Barack Obama would be the subject and you would be the__________.

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Autobiography

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he same as biographies except for one key difference: the story of a person's life is told by that person. This means that in an ____________, a person tells the story of his or her own life

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Manuscript

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a book, document, or piece of music written by hand rather than typed or printed

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Dehumanize

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deprive of positive human qualities

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Linda Brent

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The book’s protagonist and a pseudonym for the author. She begins life innocently, unaware of her enslaved state. In the face of betrayal and harassment at the hands of her white masters.

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Insurrection

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a violent uprising against an authority or government

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Memoir

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a historical account or biography written from personal knowledge or special sources

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Dr. Flint

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Linda’s master, enemy, and would-be lover. Although he has the legal right to “use” Linda in any way he chooses, he seeks to seduce her by means of threats and trickery rather than outright force.

(AKA: Dr. Norcom)

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Harriet Jacobs

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Escaped the south prior to the Civil War, faced sexual harassment as young woman at the hands of her master. Lived with fear of her children being sold away from her.

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Aunt Martha

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Linda’s maternal grandmother and chief ally. She is pious and patient, suffering silently as she watches her children and grandchildren sold off and abused by their masters.

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Mr. Sands

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Linda’s white lover and the father of her children. He has a kindlier nature than Dr. Flint, but he feels no real love or responsibility for his mixed-race children. He repeatedly breaks his promises to Linda that he will free them.

(AKA: Samuel Sawyer)

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Fugitive Slave Law

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A law passed as part of the Compromise of 1850, which provided southern slaveholders with legal weapons to capture slaves who had escaped to the free states. The law was highly unpopular in the North and helped to convert many previously indifferent northerners to antislavery

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Fortnight

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the space of fourteen nights and days;

two weeks

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Auction Block

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a platform from which an auctioneer sells

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Disenthralled

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to free from bondage; liberate

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Slave Narrative

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a genre of literature that was written mostly between the mid 1700's and the late 1800's by African Slaves in America.

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Secede

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withdraw formally from membership of a federal union, an alliance, or a political or religious organization.

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Slavery

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the ownership of people as property and one of the most divisive issues in American history from the beginning.

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line of discrimination

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across the nation, ideologically dividing the northern and southern states.

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Three-Fifths Compromise

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established that each slave would be counted as 3/5 of a person. That way, the Southern states got to count people in their borders towards their population

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Literary Nonfiction

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nonfiction writing that reads like fiction. This means that literary nonfiction includes the elements of fiction, like characters, setting, and plot; however, in nonfiction these elements must be real and not imaginary.

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Fiction

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Includes all written works that are invented or made-up by the author. This includes novels, short stories, and poems.