According to Gates, Jr. (2002), between 1703 and 1944, one hundred book-length slave narratives had been written by slaves or former slaves, while six thousand and six ex-slaves had related their tales to others through interviews, essays, and books. In fact, as Gates, Jr. further points out, this is the only time in history where those who were held in bondage as slaves were able to write about their experiences and so create a new genre of literature û the slave narrative. He also contends that scholars have shown the link between literacy and freedom: ôThe slave who learned to read and write was the first to run awayö (Gates, Jr., 2002, p. 1). Harriet Jacobs was one of those slaves who escaped north and was able to share her tale with others. This paper will examine the narrative of Harriet Jacobs and discuss what motivated her to write it, who her audience was, and how she tried to appeal to that audience.
In her tale, Jacobs shows how the very first day she landed in a Free State (Philadelphia) she was asked for her tale or a ôsketchö of her life (Jacobs, 2002, p. 439). Although she was reluctant to share her experiences at first, by the writing of this book she soon understood that in sharing her tale she would be able to help other fugitive slaves, as well as possibly be able to fight slavery itself. Therefore, she was determined ôto arouse the women of the North to a realizing sense of the condition of two millions of the women of the South, still in bondage, suffering what I suffered, most of them far worseö (Jacobs, 2002, 440). In particular, Jacobs wanted to point out the condition of female slaves, and the sexual abuse suffered by most, a taboo subject in the 19th century. Her editor, L. Maria Child remarks on this in the introduction:
I am well aware that many will accuse me of indecorum for presenting these pages to the public; for the experiences of this intelligent and much-injured woman belong to a ...