What did you know about slavery in America before you read this book? How were your knowledge and perceptions of slavery changed by reading this narrative?

Linda/Harriet asserts many times throughout the work that slavery, while horrible and degrading for men, is far worse for women. Why is this the case? What hardships of slavery are specific to women? Are there hardships specific to men?

Harriet Jacobs tells us that she is writing this narrative not to solicit sympathy for her own sufferings but to motivate the reader to take action and help the millions of Americans still living in slavery. How do you think the reading public, in 1861, are likely to have responded to the book? Based on what you have read, do you think it was a useful tool for inciting social change?

The poor white men who searched Linda's grandmother's...