Summary Of Tye Saar's The Liberation Of Aunt Jemima

Slavery is a condition in which individuals are owned by others, who control where they work and live. Slavery has been around since the 1600’s. Jacobs a young female who recounts her life in the book “Incident’s in the life of a slave girl”, gives us an in depth look into her life and how she overcame slavery and gained herself the title of freedom. Now life was not easy for Jacobs. She struggled for much of her life and the kids she had out of wedlock had to suffer because she was a slave. Slavery is not a status that anyone wants to have especially if you are a woman and a slave.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs strongly speaks to its readers by describing the brutalities of slavery and the way slave owners can destroy peaceful lives. After reading and rereading the story have noticed certain things regarding how Jacobs tries to educate her readers and her intended audience which is the women of the North. As if we do not know enough about how terrible slavery is, this story gives detailed examples of the lives of slaves and provokes an incredible amount of emotions. She uses several tactics in her writing to reach her desired audience and does so very well.

History and literature relate to one another and are influenced by the other. Texts are usually interconnected with a concept and a period in history. Beloved by Toni Morrison which was published in 1987, and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs which was published in 1861 are texts that discuss a similar topic. Both texts are written in a time where segregation and slavery were present. Literary elements such as characterization, style, tone and point of view are the crucial techniques which can assist in the understanding of the readers. Like most literature writings both texts create a moral of the narrative and give the readers a message they can take from the reading.

Harriet Jacobs wrote, “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” using the pseudonym Linda Brent, and is among the most well-read female slave narratives in American history. Jacobs faces challenges as both a slave and as a mother. She was exposed to discrimination in numerous fronts including race, gender, and intelligence. Jacobs also appeals to the audience about the sexual harassment and abuse she encountered as well as her escape. Her story also presents the effectiveness of her spirit through fighting racism and showing the importance of women in the community.

Slavery was common in the eighteenth century. Slaves were seen as property, as they were taken from their native land and forced into long hours of labor. The experience was traumatic for both black men and black women. They were physically and mentally abused by slave owners, dehumanized by the system, and ultimately denied their fundamental rights to a favorable American life. Although African men and women were both subjected to the same enslavement, men and women had different experiences in slavery based on their gender. A male perspective can be seen in, My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass. A female perspective is shared in Harriet Jacobs’ narrative titled, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Upon reading both of the viewpoints provided, along with outside research, one can infer that women had it worse.

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”- Nelson Mandela. The quote is describing how freedom is not only being out of chains but to be able to be in society with respect from all. Freedom can also mean a lot of different things depending on the person. For example to a teenager freedom could mean them getting out from under their parents supervision or parental control. But, freedom to an adult that works everyday of the week, their freedom can be, not have to work on the weekends, which gives them their freedom to do anything they want to do. In the slave narrative Incidents of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs about her life as a slave, freedom means Linda (aka Harriet Jacobs) being free from slavery, being away from Dr. Flint, and to have her family free with her. She tries to achieve her freedom in many different ways. She confesses to Mrs. Flint about the advances Dr. Flint makes towards her, she falls in with a free black man, and gets pregnant by Mr. Sands. She uses these to achieve her freedom from Dr. Flint’s advances. She also achieves her freedom by running away to her grandmother’s attic, and running away to the North. Linda also achieves her freedom when Dr. Flint had died and when Mrs. Bruce being her savior.

The feminist movement sought to gain rights for women. Many feminist during the early nineteenth century fought for the abolition of slavery around the world. The slave narrative became a powerful feminist tool in the nineteenth century. Black and white women are fictionalized and objectified in the slave narrative. White women are idealized as pure, angelic, and chaste while black woman are idealized as exotic and contained an uncontrollable, savage sexuality. Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl, brought the sexual oppression of captive black women into the public and political arena.

When we look at this piece, we tend to see the differences in ways a subject can be organized and displayed. This assemblage by Betye Saar shows us how using different pieces of medium can bring about the wholeness of the point of view in which the artist is trying to portray. So in part, this piece speaks about stereotyping and how it is seen through the eyes of an artist.

Harriet Jacobs' words in Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl clearly suggests that the life as a slave girl is harsh and unsatisfactory. In this Composition, Jacobs is born a slave, never to be freed. She struggles through life in many instances making life seem impossible. The author's purpose is to state to the people what happened during slavery times in the point of view of a slave. Her life is so harsh that she even hides from her master for 7 years in a cramped space in the top of a shed without any room to walk. The theme of the story is a statement on how slavery was a much harder way of life than many people may have thought. Many people during these times thought that slaves were happy where they were and that their lives

In Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Jacobs argues that many slaves were treated with extreme punishment and inhumanly in the south. She shows that slaves were treated more similarly to property than as workers or actual humans and the fear that they have because of it. This fueled many believers of the antislavery to take action in the abolition of slavery. Throughout Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Jacobs gives multiple examples that show the extreme treatment that many slaves encountered.

One writer that has discussed some of the problems, challenges, and injustices black females have faced in America is Harriet Jacobs. In her writing From Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, she narrates as Linda Brown, the problems that black females experienced during slavery. She talks about how she was sexually harassed and abused by her slave master and how she struggled to escape from him in order to achieve freedom; for her and for her child. Jacobs addressed this memoir to white women from the North, in order to shed light into the problems of sexual abuse that many female slaves faced on plantations. This experiences made her realize that even though slavery was “terrible for men”, it was “far more terrible for women”, due to the fact that many female slaves were constantly harassed and abused by their masters and could not do anything about it. Jacobs states, “I was compelled to live under the same roof with him-- where I saw a man forty years my senior daily violating the most sacred commandments of nature. He told me I was his property; that I must subject to his will in all things” (231). This demonstrates that black female slaves were put in a situation that, because of slavery, could not escape. Jacobs, like many female slaves, was trapped in a house where she was constantly seeing her abuser and was compelled to stay there. Not only that, but, she had no protection as a female since society is ruled by white men, as well as the fact that she was constantly

The narrative of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs gives insight to the cruel treatments and the distressing existence of those and that she encountered herself in bondage during the early 1800s. Harriet writes of her own life under the pseudonym ‘Linda Brent’ and shares personal tales of her experiences with merciless masters and mistresses prior to her escape, and also the historical events of other slaves and the impact it had on them as a community during the Antebellum time period. The book follows Linda throughout her quest for freedom to save first and foremost, her children, from the brutalities of enslavement and the corruption of their young minds, as Linda’s was similarly polluted at a young age. Jacobs makes the profound statement that no human should ever be obligated to participate in captivity held by other humans who feel superior to their slaves, whether with kind masters or not.

The texts we have read in class portray many different kinds of forms of imprisonment, and the conditions experienced by the various authors and characters vary immensely. I was particularly intrigued in how the texts showed how men and women were treated differently under the institution of slavery. I chose to focus on two texts: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.

Richard Hunt is a sculptor whose work largely draws on abstraction, crafting organic shapes with industrial materials. His approach to his art is one that is based on compulsion, as he combines various curvilinear and angular forms to form an ambiguous hybrid that captures the African American experience. By crafting an unconventional layering of different shapes, Hunt is able to create a conceptual piece that is open to interpretation. Similarly, Betye Saar aims to promote thought-provoking reflection. By carefully utilizing racial stereotypes into her artistic vision, Saar is able to manipulate racist devices into a more positive message. Her exaggeration of certain caricatures of African American life served as a new symbol for

In “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl”, Harriet Jacobs shares her experience as a slave, from sexual advances from her master to being safe by being trapped in a crawling space intending to evoke an emotional response from Northern free women. Jacobs writes specifically to this group in order to enlighten them on the specific suffering of female slaves, mainly abuse from masters, and gain their sympathy, so they will move to abolish slavery. In order to complete this, Jacobs is compelled to break the conventions of proper female behavior at the time. Harriet Jacobs demonstrates the suffering of female slaves by creating a feminine connection to her female audience with the intention of earning their sympathy, defying the cult of