Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
By
Harriet Jacobs
Transcription, correction, editorial commentary, and markup by University of Virginia, Humzah Syed, Lizzie Rusnak
JacobsBecause in most places in the US in this period, enslaved people were not allowed by law to learn to read, texts that were written by formerly enslaved people like Jacobs made a point of stressing that the author had overcome this prohibition in written the work in their own words.ChildLydia Maria Child (1802-1880) was one of the most famous writers of this period, author of many novels and of a best-selling domestic manual, The American Frugal Housewife.. She became a leading writer for the abolitionist movement. She helped Jacobs prepare the manuscript for publication and arranged to have it printed and sold after the first publisher got cold feet. BrentJacobs's pseudonym. Her name and the name of the other real people in the book were disguised, since they were still alive, and at this moment at the start of the American Civil War, there was no way of knowing whether they would be in a position at some point to exact retribution for exposing their brutality.snake* The poison of a snake is a powerful acid, and is counteracted by powerful alkalies, such as potash, ammonia, & The Indians are accustomed to apply wet ashes, or plunge the limb into strong lie. White men, employed to lay out railroads in snaky places, often carry ammonia with them as an antidote.—EDITOR.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by
L. MARIA CHILD.
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.