Incidents in the life of a slave girl

Holy sh!t am I happy I decided to read this primary text

This is something to be taken up in history books.
In general I find it so unfortunate and such a problematic lack that work like this is not discussed nor even acknowledged in history classes. At least, the history classes I have ever had in school. Especially when I lived in America

This is the second novel I've read recounting the experience of black slaves in America—the first of which being Alex Haley's phenomenal Roots—and the first that was written in a first-person perspective. And, like the aforementioned Roots, this novel deeply moved me. I believe that it's extremely important to capture the experience of the enslaved African-American woman in America specifically, as they've arguably endured the most atrocities as anyone in this country. In spite of this being a recounting of Harriet Jacobs's life, I often found myself wishing dearly for her escape, and later her happiness once free from the chains of slavery.

4.5

This was completely different than anything else I've read about slavery. A first-person narrative of a slave who escapes to the north, but still finds herself trapped between a master who refuses to sell her and a new, “free” identity that doesn't hold as much power as she thought it would.