From what I understand, even under southern state chattel slavery laws Harriet Jacobs should never have been enslaved in the first place, as her grandmother had been freed and thus her descendants should have been free. Also, I'm not sure it could be said that Harriet's relationship was entirely consensual. As she describes, the only way she could see to counteract her master's advances was by accepting the advances of another powerful white man in the community, and the necessity of the relationship was clearly a source of grief and shame to her.
My kids (16, 15 yr old) and I loved Frederick Douglass' book. We read it in late 2023. I think it should be in high school curriculum around the country as required reading. I'm off to see if Jacob's book is at the local library..... !
Hey Joel,
My interview with the Pulitzer winning biographer of Frederick Douglass:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHflpxDG-Ow&t=2540s
From what I understand, even under southern state chattel slavery laws Harriet Jacobs should never have been enslaved in the first place, as her grandmother had been freed and thus her descendants should have been free. Also, I'm not sure it could be said that Harriet's relationship was entirely consensual. As she describes, the only way she could see to counteract her master's advances was by accepting the advances of another powerful white man in the community, and the necessity of the relationship was clearly a source of grief and shame to her.
I have the Douglass book on my shelf and hope to get to it sometime this year. Thanks for the interesting overview of these two important figures.
My kids (16, 15 yr old) and I loved Frederick Douglass' book. We read it in late 2023. I think it should be in high school curriculum around the country as required reading. I'm off to see if Jacob's book is at the local library..... !
I read these both last year, and was tremendously moved by them. Glad to hear your thoughts here on them.