Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Booker T. Washington's Up from Slavery are two autobiographies that were written by people who were able to escape from slavery and a person who was emancipated following the Civil War. They both became free, but their definitions of freedom are different. In Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Linda Brent's freedom not only comes from slavery but also from control of her own body. While she is enslaved, she is constantly being sexually harassed by her master, Dr. Flint. His advances make it clear that her enslavement isn't just forced labor, but also attempted forced intimacy. He even tells her that he is building a shed in an attempt to isolate her from others and do whatever he wants. Dr. Flint's persistence drove Linda to the point where she decided it would be better to hide out in a garret in this shed next to her grandmother's house than be in the same area as him. She spends 7 years hiding out, which emphasizes the mental impact Dr. Flint had on Linda.
In contrast to Linda's physical freedom, Washington's story is focused on his success following his freedom from enslavement. Unlike Linda, Washington does not escape from slavery, but he is emancipated following the Union's victory in the Civil War. While he is enslaved, he makes it a goal of his to go to school and become educated. He is put to work, but he balances both and is able to get an education. He goes on to study at Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) at age 16, and he gets a college degree. Washington ends up being very successful, and he even founds Tuskegee University, a prestigious HBCU in Alabama. His definition of freedom comes from self-discipline and economic success. Additionally, he presents autonomy as something earned through contribution to American society rather than resistance to the system.
Another key difference is the audience that each story is catered to. Jacobs' story is aimed at Northern white women in an attempt to evoke sympathy from them. The story's themes of family, motherhood, and sexual autonomy all produce an emotional reaction. By emphasizing how slavery threatened her role as a mother and her ability to protect her child, Jacob's appeals to the moral values and sense of womanhood. However, Washington's audience is also white, but it catered to political and economic leaders of the Jim Crow era. Rather than seeking sympathy, Washington emphasizes patience, hard work, and loyalty to American ideology. He presents himself as evidence that formerly enslaved people can be successful and build a life for themself. His autobiography also highlights the idea that they can also prosper through education without challenging the racial systems in the United States. This seems like an attempt to fabricate the horrors of slavery.
Overall, both autobiographies teach us important lessons about the effects of slavery and how people overcame their struggles. With Jacobs' story, we get a more sentimental and emotional account of the horrors that Linda Brent experienced. She emphasizes her need to escape from the advances of Dr. Flint, and she goes to extreme lengths by hiding out in the garret to protect herself. Her story also focuses on the idea that freedom isn't achieved without safety and healing from the trauma she was put through. On the other hand, Washington's autobiography avoids diving into the cruelty and violence that came with slavery. Instead, he focuses on his success story and the path he took to become educated and self-reliant as a Black American man. When paired together, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Up from Slavery show that black autobiographies are shaped by historical context, lived experience, and gender. They also reveal that freedom can mean surviving oppression and the ability to build a future for yourself.
