Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Jacobs, Mrs. Harriet (Brent)

Front Cover
Published for the author, 1861 - Enslaved persons - 306 pages
 

Selected pages

Contents

I
11
II
17
III
25
IV
28
V
44
VI
49
VII
58
VIII
67
XXII
161
XXIV
167
XXV
171
XXVII
177
XXVIII
181
XXX
187
XXXII
193
XXXIII
205

IX
71
X
82
XI
90
XII
97
XIII
105
XIV
117
XV
122
XVI
125
XVII
133
XVIII
138
XIX
148
XX
155
XXXIV
212
XXXV
225
XXXVI
230
XXXVII
237
XXXVIII
242
XXXIX
244
XL
250
XLI
254
XLII
261
XLIII
265
XLV
271
XLVI
279

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Page 126 - There the wicked cease from troubling; And there the weary be at rest. There the prisoners rest together; They hear not the voice of the oppressor. The small and great are there; And the servant is free from his master.
Page 105 - Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ...
Page 86 - Pity me, and pardon me, 0 virtuous reader ! You never knew what it is to be a slave ; to be entirely unprotected by law or custom ; to have the laws reduce you to the condition of a chattel, 'entirely subject to the will of another.
Page 266 - Will you walk into my parlor ? " said the spider to the fly, "'Tis the prettiest little parlor that ever you did spy. The way into my parlor is up a winding stair, And I have many curious things to show when you are there." " Oh, no, no," said the little fly, " to ask me is in vain, For who goes up your winding stair, can ne'er come down again.
Page 46 - She listens to violent outbreaks of jealous passion, and cannot help understanding what is the cause. She will become prematurely knowing in evil things. Soon she will learn to tremble when she hears her master's footfall. She will be compelled to realize that she is no longer a child. If God has bestowed beauty upon her, it will prove her greatest curse. That which commands admiration in the white woman only hastens the degradation of the female slave.
Page 286 - My brain reeled as I read these lines. A gentleman near me said, "It's true; I have seen the bill of sale." "The bill of sale!" Those words struck me like a blow. So I was sold at last! A human being sold in the free city of New York! The bill of sale is on record, and future generations will learn from it that women were articles of traffic in New York, late in the nineteenth century of the Christian religion. It may hereafter prove a useful document to antiquaries, who are seeking to measure the...
Page 289 - Reader, my story ends with freedom; not in the usual way, with marriage. I and my children are now free! We are as free from the power of slaveholders as are the white people of the north; and though that, according to my ideas, is not saying a great deal, it is a vast improvement in my condition. The dream of my life is not yet realized. I do not sit with my children in a home of my own. I still long for a hearthstone of my own, however humble. I wish it for my children's sake far more than for...
Page 82 - I so hated and loathed, who had blighted the prospects of my youth, and made my life a desert, should not, after my long struggle with him, succeed at last in trampling his victim under his feet. I would do any thing, every thing, for the sake of defeating him.
Page 83 - But, O, ye happy women, whose purity has been sheltered from childhood, who have been free to choose the objects of your affection, whose homes are protected by law, do not judge the poor desolate slave girl too severely...
Page 125 - My grandmother was much cast down. I had my secret hopes; but I must fight my battle alone. I had a woman's pride, and a mother's love for my children; and I resolved that out of the darkness of this hour a brighter dawn should rise for them. My master had power and law on his side; I had a determined will. There is might in each.

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