Book Review: Twelve Years a Slave, The Oxford Frederick Douglass Reader, and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Book Review:
Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, The Oxford Frederick Douglass Reader, and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
By: Jaycie Smith

April 2014
Dr. Bernadette Pruitt Sam Houston State University

American slavery is a tale mostly half told. The slaver owner’s side is well-known, and one can follow it through eighteenth and nineteenth American legislation, newspaper advertisements for runaway slaves, and the remnants of a slave owner’s estate as viewed through his will. However, the tale from the slave’s point of view pales in comparison to that of the slave owner. According to Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and researchers at DocSouth, there are two hundred and four published, book-length slave narratives. From the days of the Transatlantic Slave Trade up to the Civil War, one hundred and two of these narratives were written, and after the Civil War one hundred and two more slave narratives were written.1 It is difficult to imagine that over the hundreds of years American slavery existed, the slave’s story is so little documented. Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs and the Frederick Douglass narratives are exceptions. These three former slaves-turned-authors left behind a legacy that only slaves themselves can tell; they left behind the true story of American slavery.

The first of these slave narratives is Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup. Northup was a freeborn black man living in New York. His father had been born a slave but was manumitted upon the death of his owner. Northup’s father taught him to be a farmer, and upon the marriage of Solomon to Anne Hampton, farming became Northup’s occupation. However, the industrious Northup would also engage himself in other industries, including repairs on the Champlain Canal, river transportation, rail road construction, and, especially during the winter season, Northup would play his beloved violin for compensation.2

His violin also lay at the heart of his imprisonment. While walking along the streets of Saratoga Springs, New York, Solomon was approached by two men. The men, Brown and

Hamilton, enticed Northup to join their circus and play the violin. Northup was offered high wages and eagerly accepted. The trio eventually ventured south to Washington, D.C., where after consuming alcohol with the two men, Northup became ill. When he woke up in chains, Northup realized he had been poisoned and kidnapped into slavery.3

While in a slave pen in the shadows of our nation’s capital, Northup declared the fact of his freedom and the injustice at his imprisonment. He was then beaten nearly to death. Throughout his almost twelve years of slavery, he rarely again mentioned that he had been born free in the state of New York.4

After transportation on a ship south to New Orleans, Louisiana,5 Solomon Northup was bought by slave owner William Ford. Ford’s plantation was located on the bank of Bayou Boeuf in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. Ford employed a brutal overseer, Mr. Tibeats, who was especially cruel towards Solomon.6 Later, because of financial hardships for Ford, Northup was mortgaged to Tibeats. One day Tibeats and Northup were in the process of constructing a weaving house, when Tibeats attempted to whip Northup for a trivial reason. Northup fought back against Tibeats, thus committing a crime punishable by death. On this occasion Northup was saved from a brutal beating by Ford.7 Several weeks later Northup again could not please Tibeats and his unreasonable nature, but instead of fighting back against Tibeats, Northup took refuge in a great swamp. This refuge took place in the middle of summer, with snakes, alligators, and other unknown dangers also lurking within the swamp.8 After several days, Northup made his way back to Ford’s plantation. There, he was reunited again with Tibeats. This reunion was short-lived. Fearing for Northup’s life at the hands of Tibeats, Ford promptly sold Northup to Edwin Epps.9

Northup would live in slavery for nearly ten years with Epps. Epps was a slave owner in
the same general area of William Ford. Epps was especially known by his slaves for his cruelty and drunken belligerence. It was frequent, while in a drunken state, Epps would have his slaves to dance into the wee hours of the morning. This dancing would come after the slaves worked a full day in the fields and at their chores. Of course, the slaves would be expected to be at work the next morning and labor the entire day on very little rest.10
Finally, in 1852, Solomon Northup met the man who would set into motion his freedom. A Canadian, Samuel Bass, came to work on Epps’ plantation in the carpentry business. After hearing Bass and Epps debate the issue of slavery, Northup soon realized that Bass had anti- slavery beliefs. With great trepidation Northup approached Bass and confided the extraordinary secret he had held for eleven years. Bass assured Northup that he would endeavor to help him regain the freedom that was stolen. Northup dictated a letter that Bass mailed, with the letter reaching acquaintances of Northup.11

In the early part of January 1853, Northup found himself laboring on the plantation of Epps. One morning while in the field, Epps’ slaves noticed a carriage uncharacteristically driving up to the plantation. When two men descended from the carriage Epps went to greet them. However, one man started for the slaves. Moments later, Northup recognized one of the men as Henry B. Northup, a white acquaintance from Sandy Hill, New York. With the arrival of Henry B. Northup, Solomon Northup left Edwin Epps’ plantation again a free man, despite Epps’ vehement objections.12

While journeying back to his family, Solomon Northup attempted prosecution of the men

who had wrongfully enslaved him in Washington, D.C. Despite evidence presented of his life as a free man and wrongful kidnapping, Northup was unable to bring justice to his accusers. After the legal proceedings, Northup made his way back to Saratoga Springs, New York, and into the welcoming arms of his family.13

The second slave narrative was written by slave-turned-freedman and abolitionist, Frederick Douglass. Douglass was born on a plantation in Maryland, although he was unsure of his exact birth date and paternity. It was rumored, and Douglass himself suspected, that his father was a white man, possibly his owner, Captain Anthony.14 As his mother was a field hand on a distant plantation, Douglass rarely saw her and was cared for in his childhood by his maternal grandmother. When he reached the age of seven or eight Douglass was sent to Baltimore to be in the service of Sophia and Hugh Auld.15
Douglass would go on to live with the Auld’s in Baltimore for seven years. Mrs. Auld proved to be the instrument to Douglass’ education, teaching him the ABC’s.16 While living with the Auld’s, Douglass was sent to work in nearby shipyards. There, he made observations of the white workers' notes on planks to teach himself to write. Douglass also made use of Young Master Auld’s copy book to learn to read.17

When he reached the age of ten or eleven Douglass' master, Captain Anthony, died intestate. Being that Douglass was viewed as merely personal property, he was uprooted from Sophia and Hugh Auld, and sent to live with Thomas Auld.18 Thomas Auld was an especially mean slave owner, rarely giving his slaves enough to eat or wear.19 Life with Auld was brutal for Douglass, the shortage of food notwithstanding. Douglass was the recipient of several severe whippings, none of which accomplished the purpose of breaking Douglass. 

After some time with Auld, Douglass was sent to a Mr. Covey who was notorious as a

breaker of slaves.20 Indeed, after only living under Covey for one year, Douglass was broke in “body, soul, and spirit.”21

In 1834 as Douglass’ time with Covey came to an end, Douglass was let to another slave owner, William Freeland.22 It was during this time period, that Douglass taught other slaves to read and write on Sundays. This Sabbath school was a source of deep satisfaction for Douglass. He remembered it as “the sweetest engagement with which I was ever blessed.”23

While living with Freeland, Douglass and several other slaves planned an escape from slavery. After weeks of careful planning, on the night they were scheduled to run away, Freeland learned of their plan. The slaves were then taken to jail where they sat for a number of days. Soon, the other slaves incarcerated with Douglass were sent for and taken back to Freeland’s. At last, Douglass was taken from jail by his master, Thomas Auld. According to Douglass, just as he was about to be sent to a plantation in Alabama, he was abruptly sent back to Baltimore and Hugh Auld.24

Again in Baltimore, Douglass went to the shipyards to work as a calker. After one year he was very good and commanded high wages. With these calking skills Douglass was able to contract his own work and collect his own wages.25 Previously, all of his wages would go to the Auld’s. Douglass gained even more autonomy in 1838 when he struck a new deal with the Auld’s: in exchange for earning all of his own money, Douglass would “rent” himself to the Auld’s.26

Finally, on a warm September day in 1838, Douglass executed his final escape. Aided
by a free woman of color, and his future wife, Anna Murray, Frederick Douglass donned a sailor’s uniform, boarded a north-bound vessel, and escaped slavery forever.27 Upon reaching New York City, Douglass was aided by abolitionist David Ruggles. A few days after his arrival in New York City, Douglass and Anna Murray were joined in marriage. The newlyweds soon made their way to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where Douglass would find work in the shipyards.28

Frederick Douglass became one of the greatest abolitionists in North America. An acclaimed speaker, Douglass’ most famous anti-slavery speech, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” exhibited many of his strengths as a speaker. This speech showcased his use of “classical figures of speech, such as antithesis, hyperbole, metaphor, irony, and personification.”29 Douglass would also go to write one of the first examples of slave fiction, The Heroic Slave.30 During the Civil War, Douglass at last called African-American men to take up arms against the South. Using his anti-slavery newspaper, Douglass’ Monthly, as the medium, he implored former slaves and freedmen to defend themselves and their brothers and sisters in slavery.31 His ideals on equal rights spanned not only to African-Americans, but also to women. Douglass thought women had the right to suffrage, just as blacks had their rights to freedom and suffrage. However, in the turbulent post-Civil War era, Douglass was forced to choose between white women’s right to vote and African-American men’s right to vote, which he nobly choose the latter.32

Harriet Jacobs penned her slavery memoir under the alias of Linda Brent. Jacobs also changed the names of people involved in her life’s story. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl details the story of Jacob’s life as a slave, her experience with motherhood as a slave, and as a fugitive slave in the free state of New York. As a slave narrative itself, Incidents in the Life of Slave Girl is rare, but made even more uncommon as a slave narrative from a woman’s point of view.

Harriet Jacobs was born into slavery on a plantation in North Carolina. It was not until her mother died when Jacobs was six that she realized she was a slave.33 Jacobs and her family belonged to a family of slave owners. Up until this time, many of the slave family members were able to remain together. Jacobs was even taught to read and spell by her mistress.34 After her mother and father died, Jacobs’ grandmother became a dominant figure in her life. At twelve years old when Jacobs’ mistress died, all of the slaves were split up among heirs. Jacobs became the property of a five-year old child belonging to “Dr. Flint.”35
Life for Jacobs with the Flint family was full of tribulation. Food was scarce and Jacobs had to rely on her grandmother for adequate nourishment. Jacobs was allowed a single linen wool dress each year.36 It was not uncommon for Jacobs to be required to walk barefoot in the snow while on errands for the Flint family.37 When she reached the age of fifteen, Jacobs’ master, Dr. Flint, began whispering sexual sentiments in her ear.38 These whisperings began years of sexual harassment.

Dr. Flint was an especially cruel, sexually perverted slave owner. When he could not whisper to Jacobs, he wrote her notes.39 When unable to write and deliver notes, Dr. Flint made signals.40 On the pretense of being overheated Dr. Flint would request his dinner to be served outdoors, and have Jacobs fan flies away. Alone with Jacobs outside, he would lambaste her on the happiness she was missing and threatened with violence her disobedience. Jacobs would avow to report Dr. Flint’s action to her grandmother, only to be met with more vehement verbal, and sometimes physical, abuse.41

When Mrs. Flint caught on to her husband’s sexual behavior towards Jacobs, protection was not afforded. Indeed, Mrs. Flint came to be ruled by jealousy and hatred toward Jacobs.42 Jacobs would wake up to find Mrs. Flint leaning over her. Mrs. Flint would also whisper in Jacobs’s ear, trying to fool her into thinking it was Dr. Flint. Finally, Jacobs came to fear for her life because of Mrs. Flint’s jealousy and wounded pride.43

Heretofore, Jacobs was able to evade Dr. Flint’s sexual advances by being in the midst of people.44 She tried never to allow herself to be alone with the slave owner. When at last Jacobs felt she could no longer avoid Dr. Flint’s advances, she devised a plan that would thwart him for good. Jacobs was acquainted with a single, educated white man. This man, Mr. Sands, had taken an interest in her condition and Jacobs confided to him about Dr. Flint’s sexual harassment. To prevent Dr. Flint from tarnishing her purity, or raping her, Jacobs gave herself to Mr. Sands.45 With curses and threats of violence, Dr. Flint heard the news that the object of his sexual desires was pregnant by another man.46 Jacobs gave birth to a premature baby boy. The baby was sickly and Jacobs herself was ill at least a year afterward.47 Jacobs would go on to have another baby with Mr. Sands, this time a baby girl. Jacobs immediately knew the life her baby daughter would lead in slavery.48 By making the choice to take Mr. Sands as a lover, Jacobs used motherhood as a means of fighting back against Dr. Flint.49

At last Dr. Flint came to Jacobs with a proposal. Either consent to being his “free” concubine and have her children freed, or labor forever on a plantation of Dr. Flint’s son. Jacobs knew the younger Flint was just as vile as his father. She also had no confidence that Dr. Flint would free her children. Faced with two sorrowful realities, Jacobs chose to labor on the plantation.50

Life on the plantation was hard; the entire management of the house work fell to Jacobs.51 After laboring for six weeks at the Flint home, Jacobs became privy to certain information. A visiting gentleman told Jacobs that her children would be sent to labor on the plantation. This spurred Jacobs to make her escape.52

Late at night while the entire house was asleep, Jacobs made her escape from the Flints by jumping out a window. She first ran to her grandmother’s house to say goodbye to her children. She kissed them both and ran to a friend’s house where she would hide.53
Jacobs hid at the friend’s house for one week. Even she was surprised at the perseverance of the hunt for her. Dr. Flint offered a $300 reward for her return.54 Ultimately a neighboring slave owner would come to learn the details of Jacobs’ flight and peril in returning. This kind slave owner offered to harbor Jacobs long enough for her to escape to a free
state.55 Two months after Jacobs made her escape, Mr. Sands bought the children.56

Throughout this time period, Dr. Flint kept up his efforts to find Jacobs. He made inquiries and frequent trips to New York to locate Jacobs’ whereabouts.57 In time, the danger to hide at the slave owner’s house became too great. A shed had been built on to Jacobs’s grandmother’s house and it was decided that Jacobs could hide in a small garret above the shed.58 Unbeknownst to Jacobs, this would be her home for seven long years.59 With little protection from weather Jacobs was only able to lay or crawl. Very few were the respites from her hiding place. Jacobs’ children lived with her grandmother, but never knew their mother was hiding above in the same house. Jacobs was able to use a peep hole and watch her children60 and was always able to hear them.61 The winter months were very hard on Jacobs as her limbs became numbed from inaction and cold.62

Several years passed when Mr. Sands ran on the Whig ticket for Congress. If elected to Congress, Mr. Sands would relocate and potentially abandon the children to the wiles of Dr. Flint. Jacobs was deeply troubled by this, considering that Mr. Sands had merely “bought” the children, and had not emancipated them.63 Along with everyone but her grandmother, an uncle and one close friend, Mr. Sands assumed Jacobs had made her escape and was living in New York. Jacobs knew it would surprise Mr. Sands and might jeopardize her hiding spot if she were to show herself. Nevertheless, knowing the dire situation her children were in, Jacobs was able to speak with Mr. Sands just before he left for Congress. Mr. Sands agreed to emancipate the children.64 Jacobs was so weak from the encounter that she had to be carried up to her hiding place by her uncle Phillip.65

At long last, Jacobs’s friend Peter, who had known of her hiding place, came to her with
an escape plan. Peter had paid a ship captain to conceal Jacobs and another female slave in hiding. The captain had agreed to harbor both on board his ship and disembark them on a wharf in Philadelphia.66

Jacobs made her way to New York and was reunited with her daughter, Ellen.67 Jacobs’ son Benjamin arrived a short time later.68

Now in a free state, Jacobs was employed in the “Bruce” household as a nanny. She would ultimately cross the Atlantic Ocean with the family and spend ten months in England.69 Jacobs was able to see her daughter go to boarding school70 and her son Benjamin travel to California.71 However, Jacobs was still not free, and she lived in fear of Dr. Flint. She was informed in confidence that he was indeed still seeking her.72 Dr. Flint’s daughter went so far as to travel to New York with her husband in search of Jacobs.73 Jacobs’s heart was “exceedingly full” when she learned that her employer, Mrs. Bruce, had transacted with Dr. Flint’s daughter and son-in-law to buy her once and for all.74 Finally, Jacobs had her complete freedom.

Each of these three former-slave narratives gives readers and historians untold insights into the life of slavery from the slave’s point of view. While Solomon Northup found himself kidnapped into slavery and Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs were both simply born into the peculiar institution, all three individuals endured many years of hardships. All three
narratives describe slavery’s destruction of familial bonds. Sadly, the three narratives also recount the rape and/or sexual harassment by slave owners toward female slaves. It is obvious, that Northup, Douglass and Jacobs all relied on a greater power to help them endure their circumstances.

Twelve Years a Slave offers the most compelling evidence of the severance of family with two separate examples. The first and most obvious is Northup’s own kidnapping. Northup would spend almost twelve years enslaved on plantations in southern Louisiana. During this entire time period Northup was only able to emit communications to his family on two different occasions. The first was when he was initially enslaved; another kidnapped African-American slave was acquainted with Northup and was able to convey the circumstances of Northup’s kidnapping to the Northup family.75 The second communication Northup was able to send was a letter indicating his plight, mailed by an English sailor who was on the ship that carried Northup to New Orleans.76 For almost twelve years Northup did not see or speak to his wife and two children. Notwithstanding the length of Northup’s unlawful enslavement, he asserts in his narrative that “from the time of my marriage to this day the love I have borne my wife has been sincere and unabated.”77 Upon his reunion with his family, Northup finds that he had a grandson named in his honor, Solomon Northup Staunton.78 Northup was welcomed home into the arms of his family.

The second example of the destruction of familial bonds in Twelve Years a Slave, is the story of poor Eliza. Eliza and her two children were sold as slaves and held in the same slave pen in Washington, D.C., as Northup. When the slaves arrived in New Orleans Eliza and her children were separated. Northup describes the truly heart-rending scene as Eliza had to be
physically separated from her children.79 A short time after arriving on Ford’s plantation, Eliza wasted away and died of a broken heart.80

Harriet Jacobs also experienced the destruction of family bonds while in slavery. Although she was a child when both her mother and father died, she did know both of them. After their deaths Jacobs depended on her maternal grandmother for financial, physical and emotional support throughout her adolescence and into her adult years. In spite of the fact that Jacobs grew up with her mother, father and grandmother, she witnessed slave mothers being separated from their children regularly.81 But, Jacobs and her children suffered the supposed loss of their mother through slavery most acutely. For seven years Jacobs remained under the same roof as her children, but never made herself known. For seven years the only contact Jacobs had with her children was through a one-way peep hole she was able to carve out.82 For seven years Jacobs was able to hear her children talk and laugh, but was never able to laugh or talk with them. For seven years Jacobs’ children relied not on their own mother, but on their maternal great-grandmother. Jacobs suffered through perhaps the cruelest of all severances of maternal relationships.

In contrast to the examples of Solomon Northup and Harriet Jacobs with regard to familial bonds, Frederick Douglass experienced total severance during his life as a slave. Born from a slave mother and a white father, Douglass never knew who his father was.83 Douglass’ mother died when he was seven and this only after he had remembered seeing her a handful of times. He took the news of her passing with much the same emotions as someone would a stranger’s death.84 Douglass was in close contact with his grandmother until he reached the age of seven or eight. At that time, he was unceremoniously sent to Baltimore to service the Auld family.85 From this time forward Douglass never again saw a brother, sister, aunt, uncle or his beloved grandmother.

The life a slave woman was particularly cruel. Slave women were subjected to toilsome work on plantations and overwork in plantation houses. Many were also the object of their slave owner’s sexual desires. In Twelve Years a Slave, Northup illustrates this point in retelling the life of fellow slave, Patsey. While Northup was a slave belonging to Edwin Epps, also on the plantation was Patsey. Patsey was known throughout the area as being an excellent field hand, with a special ability to pick cotton.86 Further, Epps used Patsey to fulfill his sexual desires. In addition to the rape Patsey suffered at the hands of Epps, Mrs. Epps was extremely jealous of Patsey. Mrs. Epps knew of her husband’s lust over Patsey, and instead of protection from him, Mrs. Epps became violent towards Patsey, often throwing bottles or boards at her head when least expected.87

Frederick Douglass was well aware of the plight of slave women. In the first chapter of his Narrative in the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass writes of his Aunt Hester being brutally whipped. His owner, Captain Anthony, was barbarous in the extreme. Douglass often heard him whipping Hester as soon as dawn would break. Captain Anthony was particularly incensed when Hester was found in the company of a male slave from a neighboring plantation. Why Captain Anthony was so angry, Douglass merely left for us to conjecture. Hester was likely a victim of Captain Anthony’s sexual desires, and when she disobeyed and was found in the company of a man, Captain Anthony became incensed with anger. Only after he became physically fatigued, would he cease the whipping.88

Of the three autobiographers, Harriet Jacobs is the only one who experienced the brutal
sexual nature of a slave owner. Jacobs endured years of sexual harassment at the hands of Dr. Flint, whether she was praying at the gravesite of her parents, or his mere presence at every turn.89 Jacobs even denied Dr. Flint’s proposition of freedom, but free as his sexual concubine.90 By depriving Dr. Flint to violate her sexually, Jacobs stops him from using her body for his sexual gratification and genetic recreation.91

Solomon Northup’s narrative of his life as a kidnapped slave in southern Louisiana, Twelve Years a Slave, offers unique historical insight into the account of a kidnapped slave. His tale is significant as it not only describes his time as a slave in Louisiana, but also the process in which he was kidnapped, the slave pen in the shadow of our nation’s capital, his transportation south, and his eventual release from slavery.

Frederick Douglass’ first autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself, his second autobiography My Bondage and My Freedom, and last autobiography Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, along with his many speeches and letters contained within The Oxford Frederick Douglass Reader, figure prominently in African-American slavery historiography. Douglass was the most important driving force for abolition in the nineteenth century, and an outspoken advocate for African-American rights during Reconstruction.

Incidents in The Life of a Slave Girl is obviously unique as it was written by a female ex- slave. Harriet Jacobs’s heroic life as a slave who endured years of sexual harassment, who remained hidden from authorities and even her children for seven years, and her eventual flight and life in a free state truly depict a great woman. Jacobs’ devotion to her family and her outspoken beliefs against slavery rank her life as one of the classic examples of the life of a slave woman.



1 Henry Louis Gates, Jr., “How Many Slave Narratives Were There?” The Root (blog), TheRoot.com, February 24, 2014, http://www.theroot.com/articles/history/2014/02/slave_narratives_how_many_were_there.html.2 Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave (Harper Perennial Classics, 2013), Kindle Electronic Edition, Chapter 1, location 89 of 3191.
3 Northup, Chapter 2, location 257 of 3191.4 Northup, Chapter 3, location 304 of 3191.5 Northup, Chapter 5, location 502 of 3191.6 Northup, Chapter 7, location 877 of 3191.7 Northup, Chapter 8, location 904 of 3191.8 Northup, Chapter 10, location 1227 of 3191.
9 Northup, Chapter 11, location 1425 of 3191.10 Northup, Chapter 12, location 1611-1627 of 3191.
11 Northup, Chapter 19, location 2495 of 3191.12 Northup, Chapter 21, locations 2775-2865 of 3191.
13 Northup, Chapter 22, locations 2876-2968 of 3191.14 Frederick Douglass, William L. Andrews, ed., The Oxford Douglass Reader (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.) 44.15 Douglass, 48.16 Douglass, 49.17 Douglass, 53-54.18 Douglass, 57.19 Douglass 58.
20 Douglas, 60.21 Douglas, 64.22 Douglass, 71.23 Douglass, 73.24 Douglass, 75-80.
25 Douglass, 81.
26 Douglass, 85. 
27 Douglass, 288. 
28 Douglass, 89. 
29 Douglass, 108. 
30 Douglass 131. 
31 Douglass, 223. 
32 Douglass, 100.
33 Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Boston: Thayer & Eldridge, 1861; New York: Oxford University, Boston: N.P., 1861; New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), 11.34 Jacobs, 16.35 Jacobs, 17.
36 Jacobs, 20. 
37 Jacobs, 32. 
38 Jacobs, 44.
39 Jacobs, 50.40 Jacobs, 49.41 Jacobs, 50.42 Jacobs, 53.43 Jacobs, 54.44 Jacobs, 82.45 Jacobs, 84-85. 
46 Jacobs, 92.
47 Jacobs, 94.
48 Jacobs, 119.49 Stephanie Li, “Motherhood as Resistance in Harriet Jacob’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” Legacy Vol. 23, No. 1 (2006): 15.50 Jacobs, 129.51 Jacobs, 134.52 Jacobs, 144.53 Jacobs, 147.54 Jacobs, 149.55 Jacobs, 152.
56 Jacobs, 161.57 Jacobs, 168.58 Jacobs, 173.59 Jacobs, 224.60 Jacobs, 175.61 Jacobs, 173.62 Jacobs, 185.63 Jacobs, 189.64 Jacobs, 189-192.
65 Jacobs, 207. 
66 Jacobs, 242.
67 Jacobs, 250. 
68 Jacobs, 261. 
69 Jacobs, 278. 
70 Jacobs, 282. 
71 Jacobs, 285. 
72 Jacobs, 290. 
73 Jacobs, 295. 
74 Jacobs, 301.
75 Northup, Chapter 5, location 599 of 3191.76 Northup, Chapter 5, location 586 of 3191. 
77Northup, Chapter 1, location 89 of 3191.78 Northup, Chapter 22, location 2968 of 3191.
79 Northup, Chapter 6, locations 698-720 of 3191. 
80 Northup, Chapter 3, location 392 of 3191.81 Jacobs, 74-75.82 Jacobs, 175.
83 Douglass, 31. 
84 Douglass, 32.
85 Douglass, 46.86 Northup, Chapter 7, location 1471 of 3191.87 Northup, Chapter 8, locations 1686-1700, and Chapter 14, locations 1701-1796. 
88 Douglass, 33.
89 Jacobs, 46.90 Jacobs, 128.91 Sally Ann H. Ferguson, “Christian Violence and the Slave Narrative,” American Literature Vol. 68, No. 2 (1996): 312-313.

Bibliography

Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. TheRoot.com (blog)
http://www.theroot.com/articles/history/2014/02/slave_narratives_how_many_were_t
here.html.
Douglass, Frederick. The Oxford Frederick Douglass Reader. Edited with an introduction by
William L. Andrews. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Ferguson, Sally Anne H. “Christian Violence and the Slave Narrative. American Literature Vol.
68, No. 2 (Jun. 1996), 297-320.
Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Boston: Thayer & Eldridge, 1861; New
York: Oxford University Press, Boston: N.P., 1861; New York; Oxford University
Press, 1988.
Li, Stephanie. “Motherhood as Resistance in Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave
Girl.” Legacy Vol. 23, No. 1 (2006): 14-29.
Northup, Solomon. Twelve Years a Slave (Harper Perennial Classics, 2013), Kindle
Electronic Edition.