Harriet A. (Harriet Ann) Jacobs

Born in Edenton, North Carolina, in 1813, Harriet Ann Jacobs was taught to read as a child, a rare opportunity for an enslaved girl. After her owner died, she was subjected to years of harassment and pressure from Dr. James Norcom, the man who claimed ownership of her. To escape him and protect her children, she hid for years in a tiny space above her grandmother's shed before eventually making her way north.

Jacobs became involved with abolitionist circles and later wrote Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, published in 1861 under the name Linda Brent. The book told the story of slavery from a woman's point of view with unusual honesty, especially about sexual exploitation, fear, family separation, and the struggle to keep dignity under oppression.

During and after the Civil War, she continued helping others, including formerly enslaved people in the South. Today, her autobiography is widely read as both a powerful personal narrative and a major work of American literature.