Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl, by Harriet Jacobs

Synopsis: Published in 1861, this book is an autobiographical account of the author's experiences as a slave in nineteenth century North Carolina, from her relatively happy childhood to the brutality she experienced as a teenager and a young woman to her eventual escape to the North. One of the few slave narratives written by a woman, Jacobs's work deals frankly with the horrors of slavery, shedding light on the abuses female slaves in particular often endured at the hands of their masters.

Thoughts: I thought that 12 Years A Slave was a tough read, because of the abuse that was depicted in it...but it was nothing compared to what I read in this book. Female slaves were totally degraded in a variety of ways---unimaginable ways at times. This poor woman was forced to hide in a tiny cramped space for seven years before she was able to escape to New England---and had to watch her children growing up without her. Thankfully, once she went North, she was able to make a home for the three of them.

Twelve Years A Slave, by Solomon Northup

Synopsis: Hard working Solomon Northup, an educated free man of color in 1841, enjoys family life with his wife and three children in Saratoga Springs, New York. He delights his community with his fiddle playing and antic spirit, and has positive expectations of all he meets. When he is deceived by "circus promoters" to accompany them to a musical gig in the nation's capital, his joyful life takes an unimaginable turn. He awakens in shackles to find he has been drugged, kidnapped and bound for the slave block in D.C.

After Solomon is shipped a thousand miles to New Orleans, he is assigned his slave name and quickly learns that the mere utterance of his true origin or rights as a free man are certain to bring severe punishment or death. While he endures the brutal life of a slave in Louisiana's isolated Bayou Boeuf plantation country, he must learn how to play the system and plot his escape home.

For twelve years, his fine mind captures the reality of slavery in stunning detail, as we learn about the characters that populate plantation society and the intrigues of the bayou – from the collapse of a slave rebellion resulting in mass hangings due to traitorous slave Lew Cheney, to the tragic end of his friend Patsey because of Mrs. Epps' jealousy of her husband's sexual exploitation of his pretty young slave.

When Solomon finally finds a sympathizing friend who risks his life to secret a letter to the North, a courageous rescue attempt ensues that could either compound Solomon's suffering, or get him back to the arms of his family.

Thoughts: While the language of the 1850s is a bit stiffer and more formal than the language of today, this book is still well worth reading. It is a very moving first person account of the inhumanity of slavery. I laughed, I cried, and thoroughly enjoyed the story.