Harriet A. Jacobs (Essay Date 21 June 1853)

SOURCE: Jacobs, Harriet A. "Letter from a Fugitive Slave. Slaves Sold Under Peculiar Circumstances." The New York Tribune (21 June 1853): 6.

In the following essay, Jacobs's first publication, the pseudonymous writer presents an account of the violation of her "sister," presenting materials she would use in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

SIR: Having carefully read your paper for some months I became very much interested in some of the articles and comments written on Mrs. Tyler's Reply to the Ladies of England. Being a slave myself, I could not have felt otherwise. Would that I could write an article worthy of notice in your columns. As I never enjoyed the advantages of an education, therefore I could not study the arts of reading and writing, yet poor as it may be, I had rather give it from my own...