Harriet Jacobs
Sign in to saveAlso known as Harriet Ann Jacobs, Harriet A. Jacobs, Linda Brent
American slave, writer, and abolitionist (1815-1897)
Key facts
- Born
- 1813 or 1815, Edenton, North Carolina , U.S.
- Died
- ( 1897-03-07 ) March 7, 1897 (aged 84), Washington, D.C., U.S.
- Resting place
- Mount Auburn Cemetery
- Occupation
- Writer nanny relief worker
- Genre
- Autobiography
- Notable works
- Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861)
- Children
- Joseph and Louisa
- Relatives
- John S. Jacobs (brother)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Harriet
- Family name
- Jacobs
- Gender
- female
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- Edenton
- Place of death
- Washington, D.C.
- Occupation
- autobiographer
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Notable work
- Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
- Image
- Gilbert Studios photograph of Harriet Jacobs (cropped).jpg
Show 9 more facts
- place of burial
- Mount Auburn Cemetery
- Commons category
- Harriet Jacobs
- ethnic group
- African Americans
- writing language
- English language
- birth name
- Harriet Jacobs
- date of birth
- 1815-02-11
- date of death
- 1897-03-07
- pseudonym
- Linda Brent
- Commons Creator page
- Harriet Jacobs
via Wikidata · CC0
~40 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Harriet Jacobs (1813 or 1815 – March 7, 1897) was an African-American abolitionist and writer whose autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, published in 1861 under the pseudonym Linda Brent , is now considered an "American classic".
Born into slavery in Edenton, North Carolina, she was sexually harassed by her enslaver. When he threatened to sell her children if she did not submit to his desire, she hid in a tiny crawl space under the roof of her grandmother's house, so low she could not stand up in it. After staying there for seven years, she finally managed to escape to the free North, where she was reunited with her children Joseph and Louisa Matilda and her brother John S. Jacobs. She found work as a nanny and got into contact with abolitionist and feminist reformers. Even in New York City, her freedom was in danger until her employer was able to pay off her legal owner.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Harriet Jacobs” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.