Harriet A. (Harriet Ann) Jacobs

Born into slavery in Edenton, North Carolina, Harriet Jacobs spent years resisting the sexual harassment and control of her enslaver before escaping to the North. For nearly seven years, she hid in a tiny attic crawl space at her grandmother’s house, an experience that later shaped the most famous parts of her writing.

She is best known for Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, published in 1861 under the name Linda Brent. The book was unusual for its time because it told the story of slavery from a woman’s point of view, speaking frankly about family separation, fear, and the pressures placed on enslaved women.

During and after the Civil War, she remained active in relief and education work, helping formerly enslaved people in the South. Today she is remembered not only as a writer, but also as an abolitionist whose memoir became a landmark of American literature and history.