Both Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Toni Morrison's Beloved explore the maternal experiences of enslaved women and the ways in which they resist the dehumanizing effects of slavery through their maternal acts.

In Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Linda Brent, the protagonist, demonstrates her resistance to slavery through her determination to protect her children from the horrors of slavery. Linda is aware that her children are vulnerable to being sold and separated from her at any time. Thus, she decides to escape to the North with them, despite the risks and challenges that this entails. Linda's maternal love for her children fuels her resistance to slavery and motivates her to fight for their freedom.

Similarly, in Beloved, Sethe's maternal experiences reflect her resistance to slavery. Sethe's love for her children is so strong that she would rather kill them than allow them to be returned to a life of slavery. Sethe's decision to kill her daughter, Beloved, is a drastic and tragic act, but it demonstrates her determination to protect her children from the horrors of slavery, even at the cost of her own sanity.

Both Linda and Sethe's maternal acts are examples of resistance to enslavement. They refuse to accept the dehumanizing effects of slavery and instead use their maternal love as a means of resistance. Their actions demonstrate the strength and resilience of enslaved women, who often had to endure unimaginable hardships and still find ways to assert their humanity and agency.