Henry Bibb and Harriet
1844
Annotation
Thousands of free and escaped African Americans played significant roles in the antebellum abolitionist
movement. Henry Bibb was born into slavery in Kentucky in 1815. His autobiography recounted his sufferings,
escapes, recapture, and efforts to free his family. Upon his final escape he became active in politics.
Freed slaves and fugitive slaves played a vital role in building the Underground Railroad. As slaves
began to tell their stories, some wrote private, or in some cases public, letters to their former owners, defying
their attempt to return them to slavery. While attending a political convention, Bibb contacted his former
master (a state senator from Kentucky) and began a correspondence, excerpted here. After the passage of the
Fugitive Slave Law by Congress in 1850, Bibb fled to Canada and helped form the Refugee’s Home colony for
escaped slaves.
March 23, 1844 Detroit
Dear Sir:—I am happy to inform you that you are not mistaken in the man whom you sold as property, and
received pay for as such. But I thank God that I am not property now, but am regarded as a man like yourself,
and although I live far north, I am enjoying a comfortable living … If you should ever … be traveling this way,
and will call on me, I will … [treat] you better than you did me while you held me as a slave. Think not that I
have any malice [ill will, bad feelings] against you, for the cruel treatment which you inflicted on me while I
was in your power. As it was the custom of your country, to treat your fellow men as you did me and my little
family, I can freely forgive you.
I wish to be remembered in love to my aged mother, and friends; please tell her that if we should never meet
again in this life, my prayer shall be to God that we may meet in Heaven, where parting shall be no more.
You wish to be remembered to King and Jack [other escaped slaves]. I am pleased, sir, to inform you that they
are both here, well, and doing well. They are both living in Canada West. They are now the owners of better
farms than the men are who once owned them.
You may perhaps think hard of us for running away from slavery, but as to myself, I have but one apology to
make for it, which is this: I have only to regret that I did not … [escape] earlier …I might have been free long
before I was…
To be compelled to stand by and see you whip and slash my wife without mercy, when I could afford her no
protection, not even by offering myself to suffer the lash in her place, was more than I felt it to be the duty of a
slave husband to endure, while the way was open to Canada. My infant child was also frequently flogged
[spanked, caned] by Mrs. Gatewood, for crying, until its skin was bruised literally purple. This kind of
treatment was what drove me from home and family, to seek a better home for them. But I am willing to forget
the past. I should be Pleased to hear from you again, on the reception of this, and should also be very happy to
correspond with you often, if it should be agreeable to yourself. I subscribe myself a friend to the oppressed,
and Liberty forever.
Source: Henry Bibb to William Gatewood, Detroit, March 23, 1844 in Narrative of the Life and Adventures of
Henry Bibb, an American Slave, Written by Himself. (New York: Published by the Author, 1849), 175–78.
Analysis Questions:
1. Who does Bibb ask his former master to relay a message to?
2. What drove Bibb to finally attempt escape to Canada?
James Norcoms’s Runaway Slave Newspaper Advertisement for Harriet Jacobs (June 30, 1835)
Annotation
"[We] lived together in a comfortable home," Harriet Jacobs wrote in her autobiography, "and, though we were
all slaves, I was so … shielded that I never dreamed that I was a piece of merchandise." When she moved into
the home of her mother's female master [mistress] – she learned to read and sew. Upon the death of this
mistress, when Harriet was 12 years old, ownership of Harriet was transferred to the mistress' niece. But since
the niece was only three years old, Harriet's actual master was the father, a Dr. James Norcom. This man would
be the cause of a great deal of misery.
Around the time Harriet turned 15, Norcom began his relentless efforts to seduce Jacobs. At first he whispered
"foul words" in her ear. As time went on his tactics became more noticeable and forceful. Still Harriet refused to
give in. To get Harriet away from his wife, who was suspicious of her husband's intentions, Norcom built a
cottage for Jacobs four miles from town. Harriet had previously asked Norcom for permission to marry a free
black man. Norcom had violently refused. Now Harriet had a plan to disrupt his advances: She had become
friends with a caring white man -- an unmarried lawyer.
The Plan - She would become intimately involved with this man, become pregnant, and an infuriated Norcom
would sell her and her child. In reality, a child was conceived, but Norcom had no intention to sell her.
Harriet gave birth. Still Norcom pursued Harriet. The harassment continued even after she bore the lawyer
another child. Finally, after she learned that Norcom was preparing to put her children to work as plantation
slaves, she had had enough. In June of 1835, after seven years of mistreatment, Harriet escaped. For a short time
she stayed with various neighbors, both black and white. Then she moved into a tiny crawlspace above a porch
built by her grandmother and uncle. The space was nine feet long and seven feet wide. Its sloping ceiling, only
three feet high at one end, didn't allow her to turn while laying down without hitting her shoulder. Rats and
mice crawled over her; there was no light and no ventilation. But her children had been bought by the lawyer
and were now living in the same house. Harriet could even see them while they played outside through a
peephole she had drilled. She lived in the crawlspace for seven years, coming out only for brief periods at night
for exercise.
In 1842, Harriet made her escape to freedom. She sailed to Philadelphia, and after a short stay, travelled to New
York City by train. There she was reunited with her daughter, who had in the meantime been sent by her father
[the white lawyer]. Harriet would later move to Rochester, New York, to be close to her brother, also a fugitive
slave. There she became involved with the abolitionists associated with Frederick Douglass' paper, the North
Star. In the following years, she would move back to New York, flee to Massachusetts to avoid Dr. Norcom,
and finally become legally free after a friend arranged her purchase. Friends later convinced her to write an
account of her life as a slave. The book, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, was one of the first open
discussions about the sexual harassment and abuse endured by slave women -- a topic that even made many
abolitionists uncomfortable.
This classified ad, placed by Dr. Norcom, who was also the slave master of Harriet Tubman, was typical of the
newspaper advertisements seeking the return of slaves fleeing their oppression. Newspapers also commonly ran
announcements of auctions of slaves, including young children separated from their parents.
1844
Henry Bibb and Harriet
Analysis Questions:
1. In what state was this ad published?
2.
3.
When was it published?
Why does Norcom mention that Harriet can
comb her hair straight?
4.
Why does Norcom mention that Harriet is a good
seamstress and dresses well?
5.
What law is Norcom reminding “all persons” to
adhere to?
Text of above ad: Will be given for the apprehension and delivery of my Servant Girl HARRIET. She is a light mulatto, 21 years of age, about 5 feet
4 inches high, of a thick and corpulent habit, having on her head a thick covering of black hair that curls naturally, but which can be easily combed
straight. She speaks easily and fluently, and has an agreeable carriage and address. Being a good seamstress, she has been accustomed to dress well,
has a variety of very fine clothes, made in the prevailing fashion, and will probably appear, if abroad, tricked out in gay and fashionable finery. As this
girl absconded from the plantation of my son without any known cause or provocation, it is probable she designs to transport herself to the North.
The above reward, with all reasonable charges, will be given for apprehending her, or securing her in any prison or jail within the U. States.
All persons are hereby forewarned against harboring or entertaining her, or being in any way instrumental in her escape, under the most rigorous
penalties of the law.