Harriet Jacob's account of her enslavement was published in 1861, the same year that the Civil War began. There were many accounts of enslaved people's experiences and escapes being published at the time, which people called "slave narratives." They were a very popular genre and credited with helping turn sentiment against the enslavers, who had been claiming for decades that the institution was benevolent. How is Harriet Jacob's story unique among those narratives? What different perspective did she offer? Why did it shock readers so much?

Harriet Jacob's account of her enslavement was published in 1861, the same year that the Civil War began. There were many accounts of enslaved people's experiences and escapes being published at the time, which people called "slave narratives." They were a very popular genre and credited with helping turn sentiment against the enslavers, who had been claiming for decades that the institution was benevolent. How is Harriet Jacob's story unique among those narratives? What different perspective did she offer? Why did it shock readers so much?