Seven Years In Attic Harriet Jacobs

Harriet jacobs after nearly seven years hiding in a tiny garret above her grandmother s home harriet ann jacobs took a step other slaves dared to dream in 1842.

Seven years in attic harriet jacobs. She was unable to sit or stand and she eventually became permanently physically disabled. The desperate jacobs hid in an attic for nearly seven years before managing to escape to the north where she eventually was reunited with her children. Her story is painful and she would rather have kept it private but she feels that making it public may help the antislavery movement. After seven years in the attic linda finally escapes.

The attic was nine feet long and seven feet wide and only three feet high at one end. In 1861 with editorial help from an. Harriet jacobs incidents in the life of a slave girl after the civil war harriet returned to north carolina to help the recently freed slaves in her childhood home adjust to their new life. She secretly boarded a boat in edenton n c bound for philadelphia new york and eventually freedom.

Jacobs soon ran away from the plantation and spent almost seven years hiding in a tiny attic crawl space in her grandmother s house. After staying there for seven years she finally managed to escape to new york where she was reunited with her children joseph and louisa matilda and her brother john s. She found work as a nanny for the children of nathaniel parker willis and got into contact with abolitionist and feminist reformers. Incidents in the life of a slave girl opens with an introduction in which the author harriet jacobs states her reasons for writing an autobiography.

Norcom posted a runaway notice for jacobs offering a 100 reward for her capture. Finally reaching the north in 1851 jacobs published an account of her ordeal with the help of abolitionist lydia maria child. It was the same house that jacobs was hiding in. Sawyer bought his children and had them live with their grandmother.

Hidden from everyone even her children ellen and benny who had been bought out of slavery jacobs spent seven years hidden in a cramped attic at her grandmother s home. From that tiny crawl space she secretly watched her children grow up through a small crack in the wall.