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History 113
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl “The degradation, the wrongs, the vices, that grow out of slavery, are more than I can describe (52)”. These are the profound words of Harriet Jacobs, a slave woman, who writes about her experiences with slavery and how slave women did not have the same basic rights to family, motherhood and chastity as middle class white women. Jacobs is unable to live a normal life with a normal family and husband. She is threatened every day by her slave master and is scared of being sexually abused. She makes decisions that may not be popular, but she is thinking of her future children and what is in their best interest. Jacobs goes on to write, “Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women. Superadded to the burden common to all, they have wrongs, and sufferings, and …show more content…
Flint and is starting to know the tortures of being a slave woman. Unlike middle class white women, black women were property that were used for sexual exploitation and pleasure. On a daily basis, her master peopled her young mind with unclean images, such as only a vile monster could think of (52). She knew that one day soon those images would become a reality, and she needed to do something about it before it was too late. Jacobs knew that she did not have the power to resist him. She was aware that her Master was going to rape her so she goes to her female Mistress for help. This only made matters worse and she ends up getting treated even poorer by the jealous mistress. The Mistress reveals how the slave system has distorted the character of the southern women. Slavery corrupts the way people think, and Jacobs got told on a daily basis “…I was his property, that I must be a subject to his will in all things (52)”. She can only make matter worse by refusing the sexual advances of Dr. Flint, and she is proposed with a
History 113
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl “The degradation, the wrongs, the vices, that grow out of slavery, are more than I can describe (52)”. These are the profound words of Harriet Jacobs, a slave woman, who writes about her experiences with slavery and how slave women did not have the same basic rights to family, motherhood and chastity as middle class white women. Jacobs is unable to live a normal life with a normal family and husband. She is threatened every day by her slave master and is scared of being sexually abused. She makes decisions that may not be popular, but she is thinking of her future children and what is in their best interest. Jacobs goes on to write, “Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women. Superadded to the burden common to all, they have wrongs, and sufferings, and …show more content…
Flint and is starting to know the tortures of being a slave woman. Unlike middle class white women, black women were property that were used for sexual exploitation and pleasure. On a daily basis, her master peopled her young mind with unclean images, such as only a vile monster could think of (52). She knew that one day soon those images would become a reality, and she needed to do something about it before it was too late. Jacobs knew that she did not have the power to resist him. She was aware that her Master was going to rape her so she goes to her female Mistress for help. This only made matters worse and she ends up getting treated even poorer by the jealous mistress. The Mistress reveals how the slave system has distorted the character of the southern women. Slavery corrupts the way people think, and Jacobs got told on a daily basis “…I was his property, that I must be a subject to his will in all things (52)”. She can only make matter worse by refusing the sexual advances of Dr. Flint, and she is proposed with a