Your assignment for Sunday has two parts.
1. First, read the excerpts from Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl that I have linked to on our “Readings” page. In a brief (250 word) post to our blog, comment on the reading. What does Harriet Jacobs’ narrative add to our understanding of the experience of slavery? How does this narrative connect to or differ from Douglass’? (As you read Jacobs’ description of her attic hiding spot, which she refers to as a “loophole of retreat,” keep in mind that she remained in this hiding place for seven years!)
2. Although slavery was abolished in the United States in 1865, slavery in various forms continues to be an important Human Rights issue even in our own day. Spend some time exploring the topic of contemporary slavery on the internet, and share on the blog three important things that you learn about this subject.
When reading both the narrative by Fredrick Douglass and the excerpts from Harriet Jacobs, it gave me an insight of the life of slavery. It allowed me to be able to get a glimpse of the misery that slaves had to experience. Harriet Jacobs gave a different insight than Douglass because in her excerpts she explained to the readers how slavery was for women. She says that even though slavery for men was terrible it was far worse for women. She explains how women would be hated by the mistress because they would get jealous because their husbands would try to get with slave girls. She explains how they would get harassed by their masters, even at a young age, and shatter their innocence. This narrative by Jacobs allows us readers to understand the struggle to gain their freedom. Reading how her father and grandmother could not buy her freedom, allowed me to feel sorrow and anger that as hard as they tried they could not accomplish their goal. This narrative allowed the readers to get a glimpse of pain these women felt during this time period in history. She was unable to see her children for years in order to protect them. She had to go through extreme measures and stay hidden in a box she could barely stretch in just to be able to go to the free states and potentially gain freedom. This narrative like the narrative by Douglass both allows us to understand how cruel slavery was. In Douglass’s narrative he explained the gruesome physical pain and sufferings slaves went through, whereas Jacobs explained the emotional sufferings that women had to feel.
Slavery still exists today in the form of human trafficking. Women and children are trafficked for sex. They are lured by predators who capture them and sell them to men and used as sexual objects. These predators can be anywhere disguised as normal and regular people, but have horrible intentions. For example, (true story) my friend was walking home from work one day and was waiting to cross the street when a woman came and stood next to her pretty close. The woman kept looking at her for a long minute and then proceeded to ask if she wanted candy. Of course she had said no. These predators pose to be friendly to lure females when they are alone by offering them things like candy, which entices especially little kids. They look for those who are vulnerable, young, and desperate for food, shelter, or work. They are the one’s most targeted because they can easily be manipulated and controlled. They target groups like immigrants, who are unfamiliar with their surroundings and those a part of the LGBTQ community because they usually face rejection from their families. These people can be forced for many reasons including domestic work, forced marriages, as well as forced sexual exploitation. Slavery still exists throughout the world and even exists in America.
Sumi – Thanks for sharing your response to Harriet Jacobs and for these important examples of modern-day “enslavement.”