WrittenBy Herself:
Harriet Jacobs' Slave Narrative
JEAN FAGAN YELLIN
Pace University
I
Your proposalto me has been thoughtover and over again, but not
withoutsome mostpainfulremembrance.
Dear Amy,if it was thelifeof
a heroinewithno degradationassociatedwithit! Far betterto have been
one of the starvingpoor of Ireland whose bones had to bleach on the
highwaysthanto havebeena slavewiththecurseofslaverystampedupon
yourselfand children.. . . I have triedforthe last two yearsto conquer
. . . [my stubbornpride] and I feelthatGod has helpedme, or I never
wouldconsentto givemypastlifeto anyone,forI would notdo it without
givingthe whole truth.If it could help save anotherfrommy fate,it
wouldbe selfishand unChristian
in me to keepitback.'
Ay
ITH THESE WORDS, more than a centuryago the newly emanci7pated
fugitive slave Harriet Jacobs expressed conflictingre-
sponses to a friend'ssuggestionthat she make her life storypublic.
Although she finallysucceeded in writingand publishing her sensational tale, its authenticity-long questioned-has recently been
denied.Jacobs'Incidentsin the Life of a Slave Girl: WrittenBy
Herselfhas just been transformedfroma questionableslave narrative
into a well-documentedpseudonymousautobiography,however,by
the discoveryof a cache of her letters.2
1 This passage comes fromone of thirtylettersfromHarrietJacobsto Amy Post in
the Post FamilyPapers recentlyacquiredby the University
of RochesterLibrary.Labeled
n.d. #84, it was probablywrittenat the end of I852 or the beginningof I853. All of
the letterscitedfromJacobsto Post are in thiscollection.Most note only day and month;
my attemptsto supply missingdates may be in error.Editing Jacobs'letters,I have
regularizedparagraphing,capitalization,punctuation,and spelling, but not otherwise
withtext.
tampered
I hastento recordmy considerabledebt to DorothySterlingwho includessome of
Jacobs'lettersin A Womanand Black (Norton,in press) and with whom I am writing
a book on Jacobs; to Karl Kabelac of the Universityof RochesterLibrary; and to
PatriciaG. Holland, co-editorof The CollectedCorrespondence
of Lydia Maria Child,
I8I7-I880 (Millwood,N.Y.: K.T.O. Microform,
I979).
2 [Harriet Jacobs],Incidentsin the
Life of a Slave Girl. Writtenby Herself.Ed.
American Literature, Volume 53, Number 3, November I98I.
Duke University Press.
Copyright
?
I98I
by
480
AmericanLiterature
establishes
andclarifies
the
Jacobs'
authorship
Thiscorrespondence
us witha newperspective
In doingso,itprovides
roleofhereditor.
of nineteenth-century
writers-Nathaniel
on an unlikely
grouping
C.
and L. Maria
William
Beecher
Nell,
Stowe,
P. Willis,Harriet
us witha
our literary
history
by presenting
Child-and enriches
blackwomanto
of theefforts
of an underclass
uniquechronicle
America.
in antebellum
writeandpublishherautobiography
II
totraceher
hasmadeitpossible
The appearance
ofJacobs'
letters
life.She was bornnearEdenton,NorthCarolina,abouti8i5. In
diedwhileshewasa child,and
shewrites
thatherparents
Incidents,
thatat thedeathof herbelovedmistress
(who had taughtherto
He subjected
master.
readand spell) shewas sentto a licentious
In
her
she
teens boretwo
sexualharassment.
herto unrelenting
threatened
whiteman.Whenherjealousmaster
children
toanother
black
ranaway.Aidedbysympathetic
Jacobs
herwithconcubinage,
andforyears
byherfamily
shewas sheltered
andwhiteneighbors,
a freedslave.
hiddenin thehomeof hergrandmother,
remained
whohad boughtthem
ofherchildren,
Duringthistimethefather
fromher master,allowedthemto live withher grandmother.
girltoa freestate,
hefailedtokeep
Although
laterhetooktheirlittle
thechildren.
hispromise
toemancipate
her
escapedNorth,contacted
AboutI842, HarrietJacobsfinally
wasjoinedbyherson,andfoundworkinNewYorkCity.
daughter,
oflitterateur
Becausethebabyshewashiredtotendwasthedaughter
N. P. Willis,ithasbeenpossible
topieceouttouseWillis'materials
In I849 shemovedto Rochester,
andto corroborate-Jacobs'
story.3
New York,wheretheWomen'sRightsConvention
had recently
metandwhereFrederick
Douglass'NorthStarwasbeingpublished
L. Maria Child (Boston: For the Author, i86i). An English edition appeared the
followingyear: [HarrietJacobs],The Deeper Wrong: Or, Incidentsin the Life of a
Slave Girl. Writtenby Herself.Ed. L. Maria Child. (London: W. Tweedie, I862).
ExaminingIncidentsin a discussionof "fictionalaccounts. . . in which the major
charactermay have been a real fugitive,but the narrativeof his life is probablyfalse,"
JohnBlassingamerecentlyjudged that "the work is not credible."See The Slave Community(New York:OxfordUniv.Press,I972), pp. 233-34.
3 Willis referredto Jacobsdirectly-thoughnot by name-in a House and Home
columnreprinted
in Outdoorsat Idlewild (New York: Scribner's,I855), pp. 275-76.
Notes
481
each week. With her brother,a fugitiveactivein the abolitionist
movement,she ran an antislavery
readingroom and met other
reformers.
Jacobsmade theRochesterQuakerAmyPost,a feminist
and abolitionist,
her confidante;her lettersto Post date fromthis
period.In September
I850 Jacobs
returned
toNew Yorkand resumed
workin theWillishousehold.When shewas again houndedby her
owner,she and her childrenwere purchasedand manumitted
by
Willis.
It was following this-between I853 and I858-that Jacobs
acquiescedto Post's urgings;aftera brushwith HarrietBeecher
Withthehelpof
Stowe,shewroteoutthestoryofherlifebyherself.
black abolitionistwriterWilliam C. Nell and white abolitionist
woman of lettersL. Maria Child (whose correspondence,
too,corroborates
was finallypublishedearlyin i86i.4
Jacobs'),hernarrative
As thenationalcrisisdeepened,Jacobsattempted
to swellsentiment
forEmancipationby publicizingand circulating
her book. During
theCivilWar shewentto Washington,
D.C., to nurseblacktroops;
she later returnedSouth to help the freedmen.Jacobsremained
activelyengagedforthenextthirty
years.She died at Washington,
D.C., in I897.
III
The primaryliterary
of HarrietJacobs'lettersto Amy
importance
Post is thattheyestablishher authorshipof Incidentsand define
theroleof hereditor,L. Maria Child.They also yielda fascinating
accountof theexperiences
of thisunderclassblackfemaleautobiographerwithseveralantebellum
writers.
Jacobs'letters
expressherconviction
that,unlikebothhis firstand
his secondwife,NathanielP. Williswas "pro-slavery,"
and writings
likehispicturesque
I859 accountofslavelifeentitled
"NegroHappiness in Virginia"musthave confirmed
her judgment.5Because of
4Nell reviewedIncidentsin The Liberator,25 Jan. I86i. Otherreviewsinclude The
I3 April
Standard,23 Feb. I86I, and The WeeklyAnglo-African,
NationalAnti-Slavery
are citedbelow.
I86i. RelevantpassagesfromChild'scorrespondence
5For Jacobson Willis,see Jacobsto Post, Cornwall,Orange County(late i852-early
with Willis in a letterto
i853?) n.d. #84. Child commentedon Jacobs'relationship
JohnG. Whittierdated 4 April I86i, now in the Child Papers,ManuscriptDivision,the
Libraryof Congress.Willis' articlewas anthologizedin The Convalescent(New York:
I859), pp. 40O-I6.
Scribner's,
482
American Literature
she repeatedly
this-although
soughthelp to win the timeand
introductions
to publicfigures
and evenrequested
privacy
towrite,
ofherbook-Jacobs
thepublication
in hopethattheywouldeffect
consistently
refused
toaskforWillis'aid.Shedidnotevenwanthim
whilelivingunderhisroof,
Foryears,
toknowthatshewaswriting.
sheworked
onherbooksecretly
andatnight.
Her briefinvolvement
withHarrietBeecherStowewas decisive
WhenJacobsfirstagreedto a public
in thegenesisof Incidents.
accountofherlife,shedidnotplantowriteit herself,
buttoenlist
a dictated
narrative.
To thisend,
Stowe'said inhelpingherproduce
JacobsaskedPostto approachUncleTom'screator
withthesuggestion
thatJacobs
be invited
toStowe'shomeso theycouldbecome
inthepapersoftheauthor's
acquainted.
Then,reading
plantotravel
write
Mrs.
Willis
thatStowe
abroad,Jacobs
persuaded
to
suggesting
herto Englandas a
permit
Jacobs'
daughter
Louisato accompany
"representative
southern
slave."
HarrietBeecherStoweevidently
responded
by writingto Mrs.
WillisthatshewouldnottakeJacobs'daughter
withher,by forsketch
Mrs.
of
sensational
lifefor
wardingto
WillisPost's
Jacobs'
use
verification,
and by proposing
thatif it was true,she herself
Jacobs'
story
in TheKeytoUncleTom'sCabin,whichshewasrushingtocomplete.
Reporting
all ofthistoPost,Jacobs
suggests
thatshe
as a
feltdenigrated
as a mother,
betrayed
as a woman,
andthreatened
writer
byStowe'saction.
[Mrs.Stowe]saidit wouldbe muchcareto herto takeLouisa.As she
wentbyinvitation,
it wouldnotbe right,
and shewas afraidthatif . . .
[Louisa's]situation
as a slaveshouldbe known,it wouldsubjectherto
muchpetting
andpatronizing,
whichwouldbe morepleasing
to a young
girl thanuseful;and the Englishwere veryapt to do it, and . . . [Mrs.
Stowe]was verymuchopposedto it withthisclassof people....
.
I hadneveropenedmylifetoMrs.Willisconcerning
mychildren.
It embarrassed
meat first,
butI toldherthetruth;butwe boththought
it wrongin Mrs.Stoweto havesentyourletter.
She mighthavewritten
toinquireifsheliked.
Mrs.Williswrotehera verykindletterbeggingthatshe wouldnot
useanyofthefactsinherKey,sayingthatI wishedittobe a history
ofmy
lifeentirely
which
would
do
more
and
it neededno
by itself,
good,
butifshewantedsomefactsforherbook,thatI wouldbe most
romance;
Notes
483
happytogivehersome.She neveranswered
theletter.
She [Mrs.Willis]
wroteagain,andI wrotetwice,
withnobetter
success.
I think
shedidnotlikemyobjection.
I can'thelpit.6
Jacobs
laterexpressed
herracialoutrage:"Think,dearAmy,thata
visitto Stafford
House would spoilme,as Mrs.Stowethinkspetting
is morethanmy race can bear? Well, what a pitywe poor blacks
can't have the firmness
and stabilityof characterthat you white
people have !"'
Jacobs'distrust
of Willis and disillusionment
withStowecontrast
withherconfidence
in William C. Nell and L. Maria Child. After
the Stowe episode,Jacobsdecided to writeher storyherself.She
spentyearson themanuscript
and,whenit was finished,
moreyears
tryingto get it publishedin England and America.Finally,in a
letterspellingoutthecostofherlack of an endorsement
fromWillis
or Stowe,she reportedto Post thatNell and Child were helping
arrangeforthepublication
ofherautobiography.
Difficulties
seemedto thicken,and I becamediscouraged..
.
. My manu-
script
wasreadat PhillipsandSampson.
Theyagreedtotakeit ifI could
getMrs.Stoweor Mr.Willisto writea preface
forit.The former
I had
thesecondclinch[?] from,and thelatterI wouldnotask,and before
anything
wasdone,thisestablishment
failed.So I gaveup theeffort
until
thisautumn[when]I sentit to Thayerand Eldridgeof Boston.They
werewillingtopublishitifI couldobtaina preface
fromMrs.Child....
I had neverseenMrs.Child.Pastexp'erience
mademe tremble
at the
thoughtof approaching
anothersatelliteof so greatmagnitude
. ..
[but] through
W. C. Nell's readykindness,
I metMrs. Child at the
antislavery
office.
Mrs.C. is likeyourself,
a whole-souled
woman.We soon
foundthe way to each other'sheart.I will send you some of her
letters..
.
6 My discussionof
Jacobsand Stowe is based on five lettersfromJacobsto Post:
Cornwall,Orange County(late 1852-earlyI853?) n.d. #84; 14 Feb. (i853?); 4 April
(i853?); New Bedford,Mass. (Spring, i853?) n.d. #80; 3I July (i854?) n.d. #88.
The lengthyquotationis fromJacobsto Post, 4 April (i853?). I have been unable to
locateany lettersto Stowe fromPost,CorneliaWillis,or Jacobs,or fromStowe to Cornelia
Willis.
7 Jacobs
to Post,New Bedford,
Mass. (Spring,i853?) n.d. #80.
8Jacobsto Post, 8 Oct. (i86o?). I have not been able to documenta second attempt
to gain Stowe's backing. Jacobsdiscussesher effortsto publish her book abroad in
lettersto Post dated 2I June (i857?) n.d. #go; New Bedford,9 August (0957?);
I March(i858?); and Cambridge,
3 May (i858?) n.d. #87.
484
American Literature
thiscorrespondence
are two lettersfromL. Maria
Accompanying
Child to Harriet Jacobs.These, I believe,resolvethe questions
historianshave repeatedlyraisedconcerningthe editingof Jacobs'
manuscript.
Child beginsthefirstby describing
hereditorialproceduresin muchthesame way she laterdiscussedthemin her IntroductiontoIncidents.
I havebeenbusywithyourM.S. eversinceI saw you;and haveonly
doneone-third
ofit.I haveverylittleoccasion
toalterthelanguage,
which
is wonderfully
good,forone whoseopportunities
foreducationhave
beenso limited.
The eventsare interesting,
and well told;theremarks
are also good,and to thepurpose.But I am copying
a greatdeal of it,
forthepurposeof transposing
sentences
and pages,so as to bringthe
storyintocontinuous
order,and the remarks
intoappropriateplaces.
I thinkyouwill see thatthisrendersthestorymuchmoreclearand
entertaining.
Child's second letteris a detailedexplanationof the publisher's
contract.9
Jacobs'lettersare also of value in providinga unique running
accountof the efforts
of this newlyemancipatedAfro-American
woman to produceher autobiography.
Afterdecidingto writethe
manuscript
herself,
she followedthelong-standing
practiceof sending apprentice
piecesto thenewspapers.
In styleand in subject,her
firstpublicletterreflects
her privatecorrespondence
and prefigures
herbookbyusingthelanguageofpolitelettersto discussthesexual
exploitation
of womenin slavery.Jacobsbeginswithan announcementof her newlyfounddetermination
to tell her tale by herself.
Then-as in theletters
and thebook-she expresses
thepain shefeels
as sherecallsand writesaboutherlife.
Poor as it maybe, I had rathergive.
[my story]frommy own
hand,thanhave it said thatI employedothersto do it forme. .
..
9 Child to Jacobs,Wayland, I3 August i86o; and Wayland, 27 Sept. i86o. Any
remainingdoubts concerningChild's role must, I think,rest on an undated plea for
secrecyfrom Jacobsto Post: "Please let no one see these letters.I am pledged to
Mrs. Child thatI will tell no one what she has done,as she is besetby so manypeople,
and it would affectthe book. It mustbe the slave'sown story-whichit trulyis." To my
mind,this reflects
an effortto shield Child frominterruption
while she edits the manuscript,not an attemptto hide editorialimproprieties.
Also see Child to Lucy [Searle],
4 Feb. i86i in the Lydia Maria Child Papers,Anti-Slavery
Collectionof CornellUniversity
Libraries.
Notes
485
I was borna slave,raisedin the Southern
hot-beduntilI was the
oftwochildren,
mother
soldat theearlyage of twoand fouryearsold.
I havebeenhuntedthrough
all of theNorthern
States-butno, I will
nottellyouofmyownsuffering-no,
it wouldharrow
up mysoul...
Encouraged
bythepublication
ofthisletter,
comJacobssecretly
posedothers.
Hercorrespondence
duringthisperiodreveals
thatshe
wasatoncedetermined
towrite,
apprehensive
aboutherability
todo
so,andfearful
ofbeingdiscovered:
"No onehereeversuspected
me
[of writingto the Tribune].I would not have Mrs.W. to know it
beforeI had undertakenmy history,
forI mustwritejust what I
have lived and witnessedmyself.Don't expectmuch of me, dear
Amy.You shallhavetruth,
butnottalent.""
The lettersrecordotherpressures.
During the yearsJacobscomposedherextraordinary
memoirs,
Mr.and Mrs.Willismovedintoan
eighteen-room
estateand added two morechildrento theirfamily;
Jacobs'workload increasedaccordingly.
Writingto Post,she voiced
the frustrations
of a would-bewriterwho earnedher livingas a
nursemaid:"Poor Hatty'snameis so muchin demandthatI cannot
accomplishmuch;ifI couldstealawayand havetwoquietmonthsto
myself,
I would worknightand day thoughit shouldall fallto the
ground."She wenton,however,to saythatshepreferred
theendless
interruptions
to revealingherprojectto heremployers:"To getthis
timeI shouldhaveto explainmyself,
and no one hereexceptLouisa
knowsthatI have everwrittenanythingto be put in print.I have
not the courage to meet the criticismand ridiculeof educated
people."'2
Her distressaboutthe contentof her book was even worsethan
herembarrassment
aboutitsformalflaws.As hermanuscript
neared
completion,
JacobsaskedPost to identify
herselfwiththebook in a
letterexpressingher concernabout its sensationalaspectsand her
need fortheacceptanceof anotherwoman: "I have thoughtthatI
wantedsomefemalefriendto writea prefaceor someintroductory
remarks . . . yet believe me, dear friend, there are many painful
10 "Letter From a Fugitive Slave," New York Tribtine, 2I June i853. Jacobs' second
letterappeared on 25 JulyI853.
11 Jacobs to Post, 9 Oct. (i853?) n.d. #85. Also see Jacobs to Post, Cornwall, 25
June (i853?).
12 Jacobsto Post, Cornwall, i I Jan. (I 854 ?) .
486
American Literature
thingsin . . . [mybook] thatmakeme shrinkfromaskingthe
onesogoodandpureasyourself."13
sacrifice
from
IV
WhileIncidents
thegeneralcharacteristics
of theslave
embodies
narrative,
it has long been judged a peculiarexampleof this
Americangenre.It is not,like most,the storyof a lifebut,as its
titleannounces,of incidentsin a life.Like othernarrators,
Jacobs
assertedherauthorship
in hersubtitle,
wrotein thefirstperson,and
addressedthe subjectof the oppressionof chattelslaveryand the
strugglefor freedomfromthe perspective
of one who had been
enslaved.Butin hertitlesheidentified
herselfbygender,and in her
textaddresseda specificaspectof thissubject.Incidentsis an account
by a woman of her struggleagainsther oppressionin slaveryas a
sexualobjectand as a mother.Thus it presentsa doublecritiqueof
ournineteenth-century
ideasand institutions.
It inevitably
challenges
notonlytheinstitution
ofchattelslaveryand itssupporting
ideology
of whiteracism;it also challengestraditional
patriarchal
institutions
and ideas.
Publicationofthisbook marked,I think,a uniquemomentin our
Incidentsdefiedthetaboosprohibiting
literary
history.
womenfrom
discussingtheirsexuality-muchless theirsexual exploitation-in
print.Withinits pages,a well-knownwoman writerpresentedto
the publicthe writingof a pseudynomous
"impurewoman" on a
"forbiddensubject." Here a black American woman, defying
barriersof caste and class,defyingrules of sexual propriety,
was
joinedby a whiteAmericanwoman to make herhistoryknownin
an attemptto effectsocial change.It is ironicthatthis narrative,
whichwas painfullywrittenin an effort
to give "thewhole truth,"
has been brandedfalse.Now thatthe discoveryof HarrietJacobs'
has established
thatherbook was indeed Written
letters
By Herself,
we can reexamineitsplacewithinwomen'swritings,
Afro-American
and thebodyofournationalletters.
literature,
13 Jacobs to Post, I8
May and 8 June (i857?).
Post's signed statement in the
Appendix to Incidents was writtenin response to this request.