I found the Declaration of Sentiments to go hand-in-hand with The Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl, by Harriet Jacobs. Stanton and Mott write in order to gain equal social status and legal (and voting) rights for women. It also includes a list of resolutions and grievances that demands for a woman’s right to education, to work, to own property and to vote.

For the most part, women’s positions in society were very similar to that of as slaves in America up until the mid 1900s-to an extreme. (This may be far fetched because slaves suffered a lot more physically and emotionally than women did.) Women and African Americans both were prohibited from owning land, they were denied their rights to participate in politics (voting), and church/community activity. Those who were women or black, in most cases, were denied an education so that they could not better their intellectual capacity, making them far less powerful and skillful than men/white. The definition of slave is someone’s property. In most cases, women were regarded as the property of men, just like these slaves. The major difference would be the extreme to which they suffered and that women were considered free. Yet, women were not really free, much like how African Americans were not truly free after the Civil War.

Both pieces were written strongly against the dominating man. Jacobs speaks a lot about the evil Mr. Flint who abuses, rapes and tortures his slave, representing the cruelty and treachery of the slave system as a whole. Similarly, Stanton writes about the struggle men have caused to women. She writes, “The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her.” And proceeds to list the things that men have done to take away the basic human rights of these women.

I find the structure of this declaration interesting. I think having bullet points, making it easy to read and for the simple, common-folk to understand. Jacobs does the same thing with her book- to spread her story and education the other women and so everyone could easily interpret the message she sends to her audience (mainly white women from the North, but everyone too).

In Fredrick Douglass’s speech about the celebration of the 4^th of July, he speaks about how this is a “joyous” day for the white privileged, yet it is a day of mourning and grief for African Americans. “and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems of inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony.” To the American slave, the 4^th of July shows the tragedies and horrors of injustice which he is a constant victim.

Incidents of the Life of a Slave girl and Fredrick Douglass’ famous speech were both written at a similar time; though Jacobs was hesitant to publish hers, Douglass wrote several versions of his story over several decades. Both of these notorious writers share similar stories of their escape to the North and their wishes to expose the evil slavery that existed in America. The theme they had in common also individually contained a unique perspective and sort of voice that narrates their stories.

First, Douglass’ is told from a man’s perspective, and as him being the hero and strong. On the other hand, Jacob’s story is primarily an emotional one; revealing her weakness. Her tone is apologetic and sad, which makes the reader more fearful than hopeful, in my opinion. Jacobs and Douglass each tell the female and male versions of their story through slavery, both very different yet very powerful and authentic.

In “Incidents in the life of a Slave girl”  Harriet Jacobs describes her life experiences as a slave girl in first person form. She describes many of her traumatic experiences as  a child slave from being tortured to the deaths of her loved ones. in the beginning , Linda (Harriet) as a small girl was naive and thought she lived a simple and happy life but it wasn’t until she was six years old, she realized she had no real freedom and suffers through the pressures of  slave life. She states that slavery had a bad influence on their morals because parts of their behavior and  personalities are left undeveloped. The slaves were brought up with no strong ethical sense. While in contrast to  Frederick Douglas “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July”, he  attacks the white man in a speech regarding the celebration of this holiday. Frederick describes the injustices and cruelty of the black man. The Black man shouldn’t be included in this anniversary because it is a deception and this a day for the black man to mourn. Frederick’s style of writing is very blunt and straight forward in this particular speech. The differences between the two narratives is the battle between the sexes. While Douglas Douglas focuses on the struggle  to achieve manhood, Harriet(Linda) focuses on the sexual exploitation of women. There is definitely a distinction between the value and focus between the two genders. Frederick Douglas describes the deception of the black man but seems to leave out the Black Woman.

In contrast Between “Incidents in the life of a slave girl “and “The Seneca Falls Declaration” discusses the injustices  of women in the North and in the United States. Although it addresses the issues of women , it doesn’t necessarily address the mistreatment of  the slave girl/ women and to people of  color overall. The criticism of this speech only fights in efforts to secure the education , social and civil conditions of White women. It’s obvious it doesn’t mention the treatment of slaves in general especially women slaves. White women didn’t understand the strugglesd and psychological effects of the black women. Assuming from a woman and a human perspective they would show some sympathy, not really. In “Incidents of a Slave Girl” page 19, “She Called me to her , and asked what I had about me that made such a horrid noise. I told her it was my new shoes. “Take them off”, she said; “and if you put them on again, I’ll throw  them into the fire.” After this incident , she ended up walking bare foot through the snow which is extremely cruel to do to someone. These acts of behavior just shows the way black people were treated and they were looked upon  as less of a human.

I think the advantage Harriet(Linda) had to make her unique arguments is her speaking from her own actual experience and giving evidence. The reader is able to visualize to try to put ourselves in her shoes to better understand.

The Declaration of Sentiments, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?,” and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl offer three vastly different perspectives on what equality means. The Declaration of Sentiments, written by American activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, is a document that expresses the rights women ought to possess as well as list of grievances (sentiments) the women held against men. While in “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?,” Frederick Douglass discusses constitutional rights and the slave trade. Finally, in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, is an autobiography written by a slave girl named Harriet Jacobs. Written under the pseudonym, Linda Brent, Jacobs describes her life as a slave who fights to gain freedom for her and her children. In her autobiography, Jacobs uses her narrative to discuss race and gender equality issues. While these three sources address the same issues, each approach is different and offers multiple views.

Intersectionality provide insight and helps explain how certain people in society encounter and react to different social factors. It provides a framework for analyzing the many factors–especially race and gender–that determine how people of a certain minority class lives. Jacob’s narrative contributes an intimate window into what it is like to be a black slave woman. Her autobiography contains many firsthand experiences of being a slave, which she describes in great detail. Jacobs writes about her childhood under her old mistress, and that shatters our visualization of slavery. For instance, Jacobs writes that her old mistress as kind, caring, and a woman of honor and tried to promise Jacobs’s grandmother her freedom after her untimely death. “My mistress was so kind to me that I was always glad to do her bidding, and proud to labor for her as much as my young years would permit” (10). If we were all asked to envision a slave master, we would definitely imagine someone with a short temper, heartless, and violent. However, through Jacobs’s autobiography, we can see that not all slave masters and mistresses were cruel. It’s also important to note that while it was not common for slaves to be able to read or to even be able to read, Jacobs was still offered the opportunity. We then should not dismiss her accounts as fictional because she does come from an educated background.

The Declaration of Sentiments is a document signed by 68 women and 32 men who believed that “women [are] right-bearing individuals [to] be acknowledged and respected by society.” The convention took place in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848 and its objective was to address the rights of women and draw attention to the social standing of women. Similarly, Frederick Douglass’s speech explores the social standing of slaves within the United States, drawing from his own experiences as a slave. He focuses on the Fourth of July–a notable day in America’s history–the day in which the United States was born and declared its independence from Great Britain. Douglass notes,  however, this independence did not resonate with slaves. The American values of life, liberty, and property did not apply to African-Americans and slaves. By noting his own experiences as a slave, like Jacobs, it gives their respective narratives more dimension. These three collective personal experiences offer a broader framework to understanding intersectionality.

In class we learned that intersectionality is an idea that different social forces combine to form an effect on an individual(s).  This helps to explain how certain people in a society experience different social factors.  A black woman for example, may have a different mindset when it comes to feminism or racism, since feminism can so often be applied only to white women, and the male privileges that exist (even in colored men) would not be in effect for black women.  Intersectionality is how we can understand individuals in these positions, since an umbrella-term like racism or feminism does not convey the same image for this type of person.  In Jacob’s narrative, we see a close and personal account of slavery as a woman, and the particular things that went with this, such as rape.  Jacob’s narrative differs from documents such as the “Seneca Falls Convention” or “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro” in terms of its accessibility and rhetoric; the other documents are written for broader audiences and in a strict, formal structure, whereas Jacob’s narrative is written in the informal personal tone, and depicts an experience that the other two cannot convey-  that of an African American woman.

The Seneca Falls Convention and the principle document announcing equal rights for women holds one crucial flaw – it does not necessarily advocate for those same rights for women of color.  There is a notable distinction between the two, even in the way that Jacobs was treated by her white owners, “My mistress had been accusing me of an offence, of which I assured her I was perfectly innocent; but I saw, by the contemptuous curl of her lip, that she believed I was telling a lie” (19).  This incident is indicative of the racist and oppressive attitudes inflicted on blacks during slavery, but it also suggests that this treatment holds its origin in the perception of blacks; how could white women understand the situations of black women across the country if they could never be in their position, or if they were owners of slaves before the Civil War?  Where the Seneca Falls Convention issues forth a declarative statement on the rights of women, it is also flawed in the same manner of the Declaration of Independence; it was not written with women of color in mind, “He has withheld from her rights which are given to the most ignorant and degraded men—both natives and foreigners.” This passage demonstrates a clear disregard for foreigners, “the most ignorant and degraded men” and this contempt could trace its origins to a belief that one race is superior to the other.

As for Douglas’ work, Jacob’s narrative again differs because it is highly involved with the intimate experience she held; furthermore, Douglas is speaking to a specific audience – black and white men.  Douglas makes his sentiments known through declarative language and addresses people who are in a position to understand and read his ideas.  His words may have been controversial during his time, but it would have caught the attention of white men.  It is, in other words, a document solely meant for men, and not inclusive of women.

Harriet Jacobs writes in her book, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, her experiences being a female slave.  This book is nonfiction, and depicts the harassment and oppression she must face throughout her life.  Starting at the age of six Harriet had to face the horrors of life.  Harriet’s mother died and she was sent to live with the mother’s mistress, this however was a good thing for Harriet.  Here Harriet was treated well and taught to read, but this doesn’t last long because she soon dies as well.  This then leaves Harriet to the terrors of slavery.  She becomes a young slave girl to her new master Dr. Flint.  Dr. Flint was cruel and neglected Harriet, he also forced her to have sexual relations with him.  Harriet writes, “Dr. Flint swore he would kill me, if I was not as silent as the grave” (p.27).  This forced Harriet to keep quiet, but she tries to defy him by have an affair with the neighbor, Mr. Sands, and has two children with him.  Harriet does this thinking Dr. Flint will be furious and sell her to Mr. Sands.  Her plan however backfires and Dr. Flint sells her to a plantation.  Throughout this book, Harriet depicts all the tortures she went through as a woman and a slave to show the white norther women what is really going on and help the antislavery movement.

One of the key connections this book makes to the Seneca Falls Declaration, is that is written by northern abolitionist women.  The two writers of this Declaration, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, wrote this for the Seneca Falls Conference aimed at abolishing slavery and addressing women’s rights.  They used the United States Declaration of Independence as a model in writing, it is very clear with the line, “we hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  This line is almost exactly the same, expect they added “men and women” into the text.  The main difference between these women attempting to acquire rights and Harriet Jacobs is that they are white and no African American.  Therefore, they are not slave women and cannot understand the struggle Harriet and all other slave women must live through.

Another important document having similar goals is Fredrick Douglass’s speech, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”  Fredrick Douglass was a leader of the abolitionist movement, in this speech he speaks about his experiences before escaping from slavery.  Douglass says, “To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony.” When saying this, he is only accounting for the men that are slaves not the women who are slaves.  Harriet is the only one out of these documents who is not only a slave but a female.  Having a first-hand experience with this enhancing her credibility and makes the book more effective.

There is one key difference between Harriet Jacobs’ writing and the Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments/Frederick Douglass’, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July”. That difference is the context in which the piece is written. Harriet Jacobs has an intersectional preconceived disposition to her, as she is a woman and a slave. Frederick Douglass, though once a slave, is a man. The speech that he gives is while he is a free man. Here is where I would like to point out an important difference in the styles of the writing the two use. Frederick Douglass is using a forceful method, as he attacks the white men on their so called independence. He shares none of the same freedom, so why should it be called an independence day. Harriet Jacobs on the other hand is addressing white women, but she does this in a more subtle way. Although she mentions the “who” of the book in the preface, throughout her entire novel she utilizes the vague word “you”. In one passage she says, “do you think this proves the black man to belong to an inferior order of beings?” (39-40). She keeps asking questions to an audience who may never read her book, pointing out the anachronistic version of white privilege. Although this term is not yet defined, it is clear that white people in general have significant more rights than African Americans.

This can be seen just by the mere existence of the Seneca Falls Convention. These are women who also don’t have the right to vote, just like black men and women, but by the fact that they are white means that they are a step up. They don’t have the same misogynistic and racist intersectional characteristics that Harriet Jacobs has. As such, these women are able to once again attack the men of their country demanding the right to vote and certain unalienable rights. The problem with their form of writing is that they completely leave out the black population in the Untied States. They claim themselves to be abolitionist white women, the exact people who Harriet Jacobs is targeting, but they themselves leave Harriet Jacobs out of the new Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Sentiments essentially quotes the Declaration of Independence verbatim as it says, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal”, but as aforementioned, nowhere does it mention the black population. This is why Jacobs writing is so much more important. The fact that this book is written by a black woman who endured the hardships of slavery speaks volumes to its importance. Harriet Jacobs is pleading with the women of Seneca Falls, as she may have read the The Declaration of Sentiments, and thought that these are people who may stand up for my injustice. To come back to my original thought, the concept of white privilege in the 1800’s is insurmountable. Whites are put on a whole other pedestal than African Americans, and as such Harriet Jacobs is not only standing up for the entire black community, but she is also standing up for all of women in America.

Harriet Jacobs, Frederick Douglas and Elizabeth Stanton all created works of literature that served as social commentary on equality. Not only were the rights of black versus white people being talked about, but also between men and women. Although these three individuals created works on similar topics, the ways they made the issues relevant were anything but.

Elizabeth Stanton’s speech at the Seneca Falls discussed the issues of women’s rights. It discussed things such as religious, social, and also civil rights of women. The convention aimed to reform the role of women in society and enforce new policies. Although elites in society ignored this issue, the women fought and demanded that their rights be granted.

Frederick Douglas spoke of slavery and his personal experiences with it, which made his speech much more empathetic. He described the unjust, unreasonable and oppressive nature in which slaves were treated. In a sense, Harriet Jacobs combined both of these works as she was a women, but also one who lived in slavery. Additionally, the fact that she was even able to create her work, “Incident In The Lives Of A Slave Girl”, shows that she was educated. This was unlike most females and even men who were also slaves at the time. She places the reader into her shoes, through the use of the character Linda Brent. She is able to make the reader feel much more connected by being  blunt and honest with her experiences. For example she states”Reader, it is not to awaken sympathy for myself that I am telling you truthfully what I suffered in slavery. I do it to kindle a flame of compassion in your hearts for my sisters who are still in bondage, suffering as I once suffered” (Jacobs 161). Although this narrative is told in the form of a book, lines like these still give a powerful message to the reader, similar to Frederick Douglas’ Speech, and the women of the Seneca Falls Declaration.

Both the Seneca Falls Declaration and Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July” challenge issues regarding discrimination in the 19^th century. Both of these works are challenging the core American value of freedom and address the audience by stating that freedom doesn’t exist because slavery and the lack of women’s rights were still prevalent during the time period these works were created. In the Seneca Falls Declaration, one interesting technique that the writers use is the use of the word “He” repeatedly. This is important because using “He” is addressing all the men of the nation and laying out the multiple wrongdoings they have committed against women and why those wrongdoings prevent women from being equals with men. By directly using “He” over and over again, the authors of the Seneca Falls Declaration are challenging each and every man who read the declaration to reflect upon how men are treating women unjustly in many important areas of society.

In Douglass’s speech, he uses the most patriotic American holiday, which is the Fourth of July and challenges the validity of this holiday in front of his audience. In his speech, one very interesting line he says is “I do not hesitate to declare with all my soul that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this Fourth of July!” He is speaking volumes to those that are joyfully celebrating the holiday, but not thinking or realizing that millions of black people at the time were still slaves living in America, stripped of their freedom. By asking the rhetorical question of should the people really be so proud of their country and have the audacity to celebrate the Fourth of July, he is making people think about the troubling issue of slavery in their society.

Harriet Jacobs’s “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” differs from both these works because of the use of a first person narrative. By telling some of her own life experiences through the character of Linda Brent, she is placing the reader into certain parts of her life that she wants to share with her audience. One example of this is during the period after Linda or Harriet realizes she is actually a slave and says, “When he told me that I was made for his use, made to obey his command in every thing; that I was nothing but a slave, whose will must and should surrender to his, never before had my puny arm felt half so strong” (Jacobs 18). From this quote, the reader can be put into Jacobs’s position at the time and feel the hopelessness and helplessness that she felt during that particular instance. From the other two works, women and slaves are only addressed on a general level that encompasses the entire group, but in Jacobs’s work she only describes the life of one female slave and all the difficulties and hardships she had to face to finally earn her freedom. Even though Jacobs’s narrative focuses mainly on one slave, it helps the reader connect with that one slave on a more personal level.

In “Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl” Harriet Jacobs talks about the life of oppression and tension during her childhood. It’s a narration full of distress and breathtaking happenings that surround the little girl from when she was six years old. Growing up, Jacobs is forced to deal with the  sudden passing of her mother. She mourns her mother and learns about women in slavery at a very young age. She highlights that she knew about slavery from her mother’s death when she heard other people whispering about slavery.  Later on Jacobs experiences even more traumatic events as her friends died and a little later her father who was her only hope died. Slavery was proving to be harsh and punishing to the slaves. After the death of her father the reality of slavery appeared to her and her brother Willie. They confronted each other as they tried to figure out their entire life in slavery. For example, food was not adequate and one was prevented from visiting relatives like grandmothers who had something for the children to take. The slaves were treated worse than dogs and Jacobs came across a slave groaning in pain as he was being whipped by his master. This was a traumatic experience for her as a young girl. The narration depicts the condition of a female child in the hands of slavery and the abuse she had to go through.

The Seneca Falls declaration of 1848 was brought about in efforts to fight for the rights of women in slavery. It aimed at discussing the religious, civil and social rights and conditions of women and female children. The role of women in society was to be revisited and strict policies were developed. The event brought about a heated talk about the rights of women in voting and though many elites disregarded the issue but attendees such as Fredrick Douglas proposed the universal suffrage to be followed and on that day the women signed the documents that demanded their rights be granted. The convention was geared towards moral, civil and social rights where revolutionary ideas were brought out and the struggle for the rights of women to vote began.

Fredrick Douglass on the other hand speaks eloquently and strongly about the age of slavery and his experience before escaping from slavery. He spoke to the people about the oppressive nature of slavery and the masters. He called the government that supported slavery oppressive, unreasonable and unjust to humanity. He said that oppression made the bright men mad and that it was not the right thing for any state to do. He talked about the fathers of the citizens’ dream of having a place equal to everyone and the manner in which a few greedy people killed this dream.

Looking at the three narratives, it is clear that the Jacobs narrative was more directed at women’s place in society and was from a personal experience of slavery while growing up similar to the case of Fredrick and the Seneca Falls declaration. In Jacobs’s narrative the slavery was real from a young age which other documents aren’t able to relate to on a first hand basis. To promote her arguments Jacobs’s narrative should include styles such as painting real pictures of the old days and also use of other first hand experiences involved in those days.