Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl was long believed to be a fictional account of slavery. Through extensive research, however, scholars have documented its authenticity as an autobiography by Harriet Jacobs, and it is now considered one of the most important antebellum slave narratives. No doubt the author’s decision to use pseudonyms for herself and her characters and the “novelish” nature of the autobiography (with its plot, dialogue, and episodic chapters) led some literary critics and historians to question the historical authenticity of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Possibly, too, the relative lack of access to written modes of expression by black women of the early nineteenth century also inspired some of this skepticism.

The issue of authenticity is, in fact, central to the whole tradition of African American slave narrative. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, like other narratives, was written as testimony on behalf of and documentation for the antislavery cause. As such, it represents a highly activist literature, one in which the express purpose was political. Jacobs participated in the abolitionist movement and was assisted in her literary efforts by other abolitionists.

As was the case with many other slave narratives, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is accompanied by letters attesting its authenticity: the first by Amy Post, a white Quaker abolitionist, and the second by George Lowther, a free black man in Boston. This tradition of advocacy letters arose in response to early skepticism inside and outside the white abolitionist movement about the authenticity of slave narratives in general. Were these stories of the horrors of slavery really true? How could their authenticity be proven?

In essence, the question became “Who will be allowed to speak?” and “In what terms?” Harriet Jacobs, like several other leading black abolitionists, had disagreements with white abolitionists such as Harriet Beecher Stowe over the best way to present her story. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl was edited by white abolitionist editor Lydia Marie Child. The involvement of white antislavery activists in the publishing of some slave narratives has inspired some literary critics to wonder if the literary voice of slave narrative represents authentic black experience or instead has been cultivated according to the purposes and perspectives of white editors and readers. Other critics argue that black authors exercised definitive control over the form and content of their voices. This controversy illustrates the interesting and complex nature of slave narrative as a literary genre and invites a rigorous exploration of the complexity of American abolitionist history. Harriet Jacobs’s autobiography provides an important voice in that history.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl recounts the early childhood through middle adulthood of Linda, the pseudonym of author Harriet Jacobs. Born into slavery in North Carolina in approximately 1818, Linda loses both parents at an early age and forms a primary and essentially maternal bond with her grandmother, Aunt Martha, a free black. Linda’s life is controlled, however, by her master and mistress, Dr. and Mrs. Flint. In fact, Linda’s life story is structured as a response to Dr. Flint’s predatory sexual pursuit, which begins in her early adolescence and continues, in varied forms, until his death. In response to Flint’s constant harassment and Linda’s fear that he will eventually rape her, she chooses to bear two children with another white man in the community, Mr. Sands. She agonizes over this decision, believing that she has compromised her own morality. She also subsequently suffers her grandmother’s wrath and judgment in response to this decision, which threatens her...