Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself
Harriet Jacobs published her own story in 1861 under the name Linda Brent, one of the very few slave narratives written by a woman about a woman’s experience. She recounts growing up enslaved in North Carolina, the relentless sexual pressure of her owner, and the choices she made to protect herself and her children in a system that granted her no rights over either. Her most extraordinary act of resistance was to hide for nearly seven years in a cramped attic crawlspace above her grandmother’s home before finally reaching the North. Writing plainly to Northern white women, Jacobs asks them to grasp what slavery did to mothers and daughters. This free PDF and EPUB edition presents her complete narrative.
Listen to Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself Audiobook Free
Listen to Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself by Harriet A. Jacobs free online. The full audiobook (7 hr 47 min, 43 chapters, read by Elizabeth Klett) streams free on this page.
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself (1861) is a public domain work.
| # | Chapter | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction | 6:20 | |
| 2 | Childhood | 8:52 | |
| 3 | The New Master and Mistress | 13:19 | |
| 4 | The Slaves’ New Year’s Day | 4:48 | |
| 5 | The Slave Who Dared to Feel Like a Man | 24:10 | |
| 6 | The Trials of Girlhood | 8:29 | |
| 7 | The Jealous Mistress | 14:30 | |
| 8 | The Lover | 15:06 | |
| 9 | What Slaves Are Taught to Think of the North | 5:48 | |
| 10 | Sketches of Neighboring Slaveholders | 17:52 | |
| 11 | A Perilous Passage in the Slave Girl’s Life | 13:08 | |
| 12 | A New Tie to Life | 11:29 | |
| 13 | Fear of Insurrection | 11:44 | |
| 14 | The Church and Slavery | 18:30 | |
| 15 | Another Link to Life | 8:00 | |
| 16 | Continued Persecutions | 14:08 | |
| 17 | Scenes at the Plantation | 21:40 | |
| 18 | The Flight | 7:12 | |
| 19 | Months of Peril | 16:22 | |
| 20 | The Children Sold | 11:27 | |
| 21 | New Perils | 9:24 | |
| 22 | The Loophole of Retreat | 9:46 | |
| 23 | Christmas Festivities | 5:16 | |
| 24 | Still in Prison | 9:24 | |
| 25 | The Candidate for Congress | 6:24 | |
| 26 | Competition in Cunning | 11:22 | |
| 27 | Important Era in my Brother’s Life | 9:42 | |
| 28 | New Destination for the Children | 15:38 | |
| 29 | Aunt Nancy | 11:42 | |
| 30 | Preparations for Escape | 19:12 | |
| 31 | Northward Bound | 7:12 | |
| 32 | Incidents in Philadelphia | 10:23 | |
| 33 | The Meeting of Mother and Daughter | 8:02 | |
| 34 | A Home Found | 6:28 | |
| 35 | The Old Enemy Again | 8:26 | |
| 36 | Prejudice Against Color | 5:41 | |
| 37 | The Hairsbreadth Escape | 11:01 | |
| 38 | A Visit to England | 6:19 | |
| 39 | Renewed Invitations to Go South | 4:46 | |
| 40 | The Confession | 4:31 | |
| 41 | The Fugitive Slave Law | 12:06 | |
| 42 | Free At Last | 16:00 | |
| 43 | Appendix | 5:10 |
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